


Alya is Bi and No-One Can Stop Me

by EvilGinger606



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Also Chat Noir and Marinette become friends, Alya is bi and no one can stop me, Cat Noir learns to take rejection wowie, Do I even mention Lila??? I don't think so, Healthy Relationships, Multi, This was going to be short but I got carried away, cute times, poly ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23161534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilGinger606/pseuds/EvilGinger606
Summary: When Alya rediscovers her feelings for her best friend, and Marinette finds out her best friend is in love with Paris's favorite superheroine, life becomes messy. Join these two alongside our other heroes for a journey of self-discovery, coming out, navigating honesty and polyamorous relationships, misunderstandings and real reactions.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Background Rose and Juleka, Marinette Alya and Nino
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey girl hey! Thanks for letting me crash here tonight. Ever since my sisters started watching barbie dreamhouse adventures, that is ALL they’ve been talking about.” Alya was laying on Marinette's facing the ceiling, a bag with her pjs and homework on the floor to her right.

Meanwhile, Marinette was in front of her computer looking up other bands for new ideas for Kitty sections next costumes. Alya could hear her mouse click as she spoke, opening up another image.

“No sweat! I know those two can be a real handful. Plus, it’s nice to hang out with just you and me. I love the girls, but it can be a lot when we all get together sometimes.”

“Tell me about it!’ The two laugh. Marinette spins around in her chair to face Alya, stretching her arms up towards the ceiling. They had dessert earlier, and they already agreed to do their homework in the morning. All that was left to do was change into pajamas and head to bed… after a lot of goofing off, of course.

“So how was ice skating with Adrian the other day?” Alya asked, eyeing her expectantly. Marinette, hands still stretched up, immediately leaned too far back and toppled her chair over. While Alya bolted upright, about to walk over to ensure she’s okay, she is relieved to see Marinette sit up with an embarrassed, but not hurt, face.

“Oh!! It was fire, I mean, fine, not fire, haha! Ice isn’t hot, silly me, but of course Adrien was~”

“Oh, C’mon girl! Spill the beans, give me the deets!” Marinette, snapping out of her daydream, shakes her head out of the clouds and glances sideways. 

“Honestly? Nothing really happened between me and Adrien. He was hanging out with Kagami most of the time.”

“Of course they were hanging out together. She’s got to realize that he isn’t just there to hang with her, you all go together for a reason.” Alya crosses her legs on the bed, resting her chin in the cup of her hand with her elbow propped against her knee. She rolls her eyes thinking about the girl. While Alya didn’t necessarily harbor any ill feelings towards Kagami, she definitely was frustrated by the block she put between her best friend and her best friends supercrush. Marinette turned back to her computer, closing her tabs and getting ready to shut it down.

“Alya, it’s fine, really. It is supposed to be a double date, remember?”

“A date between you and Luka, right? How’s that been going?” Marinette shies away from Alya’s prodding, her face going red.

“It’s been great! Now, if we could change the subject away from skate-night, that would be great.” Alya smirks, leaning into the conversation.

“Oh Marinette, Marinette, you know you can’t leave me with that. As a journalist, I can sense when there’s a big scoop, and I can tell you that there’s one just under my nose. Do you want to tell me now, or later?” Marinette shifts awkwardly in her seat. Something about the way her face sours makes Alya realize that she’s pushed it just a bit too far.

“Hey…” She opens up conversation again, after a short pause. “I’m sorry for being nosy, you don’t have to share.” Seeing Alya’s concerned face, she shakes her head.

“No! You’re okay, don’t worry. Just… Kagami said something strange to me, and I’ve been thinking a lot about it.” Her friend perks up, swinging her feet over the side of the bed.

“Oh no, what did she say to you? I swear if she hurt you, I’ll take that Fencing sword of hers and shove it up her-”

“No no! It’s nothing bad! I mean, quite the opposite, really… You see, I, uh…” She tapped her nails on the counter after her screen turned dar. She takes a breath, spinning her chair back around and leaning her hands against her thighs.

“So Luka had to go to the bathroom and he asked me if I’d be fine and I said I would but I still don’t really know how to skate so then I fell and Kagami took me by the arm and skated me around the ice rink and on top of it being really cool of her she told me that I need to skate with more confidence and she kissed my hand before handing me back to Luka and I’m? Confused.” Slumping back in her chair, she covered her now bright red face.

Alya chuckled. She knew there was no way a girl such as Kagami could possibly be straight, but she didn’t take Marinette to be her type.

“Girl, that’s just funny! She’s barking up the wrong tree.” Laying back on the bed and flipping out her phone, she pulls up Kagami’s social media page. Definitely not straight. Marinette on the other hand? She doesn’t have a gay bone in her body. From her cute pink flats to her dark blue pigtails, Marinette was as straight as a freshly baked baguette.

“So you think she was flirting with me?” Marinette asked.

“Well maybe. Normally I’d say yeah, but Kagami’s, like, the most direct person I know. Good thing for you, though, she’d be barking up the wrong tree otherwise.”

“Haha, yeah. She’s definitely not my type.” Something about the way that sentence was phrased set off a signal in Alya’s head. She proposed an idea.

“I mean, maybe if she was a guy. She’s got confidence and style, and she’d make a pretty cute dude to boot.” Finishing her sentence with a wink, she chuckled slightly.

“I don’t think that genders really the problem here. I mean, the kiss left my heart pounding, but I don’t think we’d be a good fit as a long term couple. Not that I’ve thought that far!” Seeing her friend get flustered about another girl sent sparks down her spine and straight through her fingertips. She laid back down on the bed, opening back up her Instagram and scrolling to avoid the awkward eye contact

“If you wanna go for it, I’ll support you.” She said casually. It was a sort of non-response to keep conversation flowing without her having to really contribute. Marinette stood up, kicking back her leg and grabbing her ankle for a good stretch.

“No, it probably wouldn’t work out. We’re both too headstrong to work with eachother! Plus you’re right, it wasn’t meant to be taken like that.” She walked across the room, while Alya was glued to her phone. More and more of her friends started tagging their posts with #Ninoneedsaninstagram, even when their posts had nothing to do with him. She wasn’t sure why he so blatantly refused, but she knew she’s crack eventually. Every post on the hashtag was another asset to her case.

Marinette opened up her closet, sifting through her clothing. “You don’t care if I change here, right?” Marinette asked, grabbing her clothes. Alya’s cheeks turned just slightly pink, and she had to fight back a look of surprise. Now was definitely not the time to be getting flustered.

“Yeah, no problem!” When the two met, Alya had had the biggest crush on her. How could she not? From her sweet smile to her charming laugh, her soft hair in those cute pigtails and the fact that she wears her own designs, there was no way that the new girl in school was avoiding a crush on her seatmate. But now, after setting aside and forgetting about those feelings, between the new sense of hope and seeing Marinette half clothed in front of her, there was nothing to do but resign herself to these reawakened feelings.

After a few moments of scrolling on her phone and stealing glances to the side, Alya started getting changed as well. Once the two girls were in their pjs, Marinette crawled into bed beside Alya.

“I forgot how warm you are.” Marinette put her cold hands on Alya’s arms, and Alya pulled away.

“Dang! Why are you so cold?” They both felt what was coming, one with dread and one with the mischief to fulfill a necessary prophecy. Marinette shot her hand to her friends back, a spot she knew Alya would hate. Alya tried to rip her off, but when Marinette’s hands were grabbed, she latched her fingers with Alya’s to trap them above their heads. Marinette pulled her knees to her chest and pulled off a sock to plant an icy cold foot on her friends back.

“Ah! Marinette, gross.” She tried to turn around, but Marinette's hands were still holding hers above their heads, and Marinette maneuvered her arms like a rag-doll. Since when was Marinette so strong? Alya naturally arched her back away, but Marinette pressed her foot forward, spilling laughter so naturally from her friend's pain. Alya had to move to her only last tactic- she brought her lower body off the bed and fell to the floor.

Marinette eventually let go of her hands, and Alya’s upper body fell with a light thump to the floor. Alya laid there until she saw Marinette peer over the side of the bed with an obnoxious grin. Alya reached a hand up and pinched her friend's nose.

“You rascal.” She said. She eventually let go, and Marinette offered a hand. Alya eyed it suspiciously, but took it anyway. She was hauled back up, where she could get back into the bed. They had to grab the blanket, which had fallen to the floor with Alya. Once they were back into bed all snug and cozy, They started talking. And talking. And talking.

The two continued talking entirely too late into the night, and when morning came, they texted Nino asking for answers to the homework instead of attempting to think on such a little amount of sleep. Maybe this was why they didn’t normally do weekday sleepovers.

“Have a nice day at school!” Mrs. Dupen-Chang said, passing both Marinette and Alya a lunch.

“Mrs. Dupen-Chang, you didn’t have to do that.” The mom smiled, patting her shoulder.

“Of course I did. Now, you don’t want to be late!” The two girls ran down the stairs, nearly jogging out the door. Marinette swiped two sweets from the bakery for breakfast as they ran by her father.

“Are you two planning to pay me for those?” He called smuggly. Marinette waved her hand back, shouting as she passed the first customer of the day.

“It’s the daughter tax! Love you!” Mr. Dupen-Chang chucked, and Marinette could hear the little old lady who walked into the bakery ask if he was going to make her pay interest on that.

The two girls laughed before continuing their jog to school. Alya was running out of breath, but Marinette? Her steps were consistent, and she was hardly breaking a sweat. Alya hadn’t noticed it before, but the baker's daughter was much more in shape now than before… Which only made her seem more attractive.

Marinette caught her stare and smiled, and Alya smiled back with tinged cheeks. This was bad, very bad for her. She had never told Nino about her feelings for Marinette, it had never been a trouble while they were dating. But now she had to debate whether she should just squash these feelings or bring them up to Nino. She wanted to be honest with him, but she wasn’t so sure if he would take it the right way.

They were scolded for being late to class, and sat down in their seats. Alya fist bumped her boyfriend before sitting down as a quiet thank you for the homework. Seeing him every morning made her chest swell. She cared about him more than she ever thought she could care for someone, and she really didn’t want to hurt him if she didn’t have to.

Looking to the side, however, her heart skipped a beat. Marinette’s rosy cheeks and sleepy eyes caught her off guard. She wondered how Adrien hadn’t fallen for her already; she was amazing. Being pretty was just one thing: she was a talented designer who made an album cover for one of the most popular music artists in Paris before graduating high school, and won a fashion contest run by the most famous designer in all of Paris. She was president of their class, and took more seriousness over her position than Chloe ever could. She was an absolute star of a person, and not only that, but Alya was lucky enough to be her best friend.

All of these thoughts were running through Alya’s head as class continued. She had to make a mental effort to keep her eyes on the chalkboard so she wouldn’t be caught staring. When the bell rang for lunch, she took out the handmade lunch from Marinette’s mom and looked at Nino.

“Wanna go eat outside?” She asked him. He gave her a thumbs up and a goofy grin.

“You bet! Adrien, you’ve gotta come with us!” Adrien smiled back with a grin so white you knew he was a model.

“Sounds good to me! Marinette, are you going to be joining us?” She stammered in response, unable to look him in the eyes.

“Yeah! There’s no way I would turn down with hanging with you… Guys! You, guys! Heheh.” Adrien smiled at her warmly, and the butterflies in her stomach could be heard in swarms. The expression on her face was reserved for Adrien and Adrien alone: not even Luka got that sort of glance. And the sounds of her butterflies drowned out Alya’s ten times over.

The rest of the day went by smoothly, as well as the days after that. While Alya tried to carry on as usual, the feelings that she was having came crashing down on her in waves. One minute she was in class listening to her lecture, and the next she watched a girl clutz into the room, stumbling and fumbling her way into an apology as she retreated to her seat. And in the moment their eyes met and the girl smiled, Alya’s heart shot into her throat, butterflies fluttered in her stomach, she had the whole works.

That particular day, Alya was watching the clock like a hawk. As the clocked ‘tick, toc, tick, toc’ed on, she rested a hand on the bag below her desk. Once the bell rang, she bolted out of her seat and grabbed Nino’s hand, running out the door.

“Later girl, see ya Adrien!” Rounding the corner, Marinette looked at Adrien. She assumed the two were set up to be alone together, and while she wanted to protest… She had Adrien to herself. He gave her a smile, and the two decided to eat in the classroom together.

Meanwhile, Alya sat Nino down on the rooftop.

“Alya, slow down! I’m chill with eating together, but I’ve gotta head back so I can grab my lunch first.” He turned around, and Alya grabbed his hand. The look on her face silenced him, and his immediately went to panic.

“Did I do something wrong? I swear, I didn’t mean to do badly on the homework, but I totally misunderstood the question-”

“No no! That’s not the problem.” Alya chuckled, but Nino’s face only got more concerned.

“So there is a problem?” Alya grabbed his hands, leaning forward to kiss him. Before she could, he snuck in with a surprise kiss on the nose! The two began laughing as Alya’s head fell into his shoulder. They sat down, looking at their personal view of Paris before Alya mustered the courage to move forward.

“Hey, so. You know how we said we’d share everything with each other?”

“Yeah, of course! You can tell me anything.” Sighing with relief, Alya took an apple out of her bag, tossing it into the air.

“Yeah, I know that… Do you remember when I found out about your crush on Marinette?” He smiled, looking at the clouds.

“Oh yeah! That was a weird time. That was also the same day I realized just how awesome you were.” He elbowed her side, mischief in his eyes. She nodded.

“Yeah. But something I never told you about was that you weren’t the first to have a crush on our lucky girl.” Taking a bite of her apple, sweet and slightly sticky, she then pulled out a napkin to hold onto.

“Well every guy in the school’s liked her at some point! Well, besides our best bud Adrien and all.”

“And Marc! He’s gay.” He shot her a surprised glance.

“He’s gay?”

“Yeah! That’s not a problem, is it?” She looked at him smugly, although she was actually nervous to hear his answer. The only people out in their class were Rose and Juleka, so she wasn’t sure what his viewpoint on that was. Of course, he had no problems with it.

“Nah, just a surprise was all.” Alya laughed, patting his shoulder before handing him her juicebox.

“Oh hun, you definitely do not have a gaydar.” Nino gave her a light, joking push.

“And you do?”

“Of course I do! I’m a journalist, after all. And I was ahead of the Marinette crush train.”

“Woah, for real?” She could tell he almost spit out the drink in his mouth, and she burst out laughing. He laughed back, placing the box down.

“You didn’t realize it? New girl obsessed with strong superheroes gets placed to the prettiest, kindest, most strong willed girl in school? It was fated to be.” She hands him her a mostly uneaten apple before taking out her sandwich.

“You know, usually you’re always right, but I have to argue with you on this one.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, you are definitely the number one girl in any of those categories. But don’t tell Marinette I said that!”

“It’s alright, that’s something you’re contractually obligated to say as my boyfriend.” She snuggled into his chest, and he gave the best hug he could while not getting the apple in her hair. They stayed like that for a couple minutes, content with just being near each other.

“Hey Nino?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I still like Marinette.” Her head was still buried, and she felt his chest move abruptly. After a moment of silence, she looked up. “Nino?”

“Oh! Sorry, I must have misheard you there. Can you say that again?” She knew he heard her. Pushing lightly against his chest and out of his arms, she looked him in the eye properly.

“I like Marinette. Present tense.” Nino’s mouth was slightly ajar.

“Are you… Breaking up with me?” Alya grabbed his hands, holding them close to her heart.

“No! Of course not. I love you, Nino.” His face looked more serious than she had ever seen it. 

“So, you like me, not her?” Alya was unable to keep up the eye contact as she spoke, squeezing his hands as she did when she was nervous.

“I like you, and her.”

“But do you want to date her?” Her grip on his hands lessened.

“I mean, maybe? These feelings just came back recently, I’m still working through it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to date you! I just wanted you to know.” Nino pulled his hands away from her, shaking his head. The shock on his face was more than apparent.

“We’re supposed to be partners. The ultimate duo!” Alya leaned forward, trying to reach out for his hand.

“And we are. My feelings for you haven’t changed. I’m just also developing these other feelings.”

“I guess I was never enough for you then?”

“That has nothing to do with it! My feelings for you guys are two seperate things. I don’t date you to fill something, I date you cause I love you.”

“That has everything to do with it, man! You wouldn’t be after another guy- or girl- if you were satisfied with me… I’m sorry.” Nino stood up, and walked around Alya to head up. She tried to grab his ankle as he passed her, 

“I love you, and I love her in a different way that doesn’t connect with how I love you.” He pulled his leg away from her, becoming obviously frustrated.

“So you love her now? Not cool.” He turned around, walking out and leaving Alya on the rooftop.

Nino walked, and then ran down the stairs. Most of the students ignored him, until he ran into some familiar faces from class. They looked at him with concern, which he dodged as best he could, smiling and giving them nods or waves. He was only stopped when running into two of his best friends.

“Are you crying? What happened?” Adrien asked him. Nino looked from his concerned face to Marinette’s, and hurt turned to hate.

“Is there something we can do to help?” Nino lowered his head, shoving passed her and bumping her elbow so hard that she fell into Adrien. He couldn’t believe that one of his friends would do that to him. Did Marinette know about her crush? Was it mutual? Of course it was, who wouldn’t like someone as amazing as Alya? If she confessed, he would definitely lose her. There was no way he could ever compete with that.

“Ugh, not cool not cool not cool!” He walked into the bathrooms, slamming the door to one of the stalls and slumping onto the floor. He let out his tears. When was the last time he cried? It had certainly been a while, that was for sure. Nino hardly ever had anything to get seriously worked up about. And if he did, he usually had Alya to talk to. What was he supposed to do now?

And the butterfly landed on the browning apple in his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

“Bad Apple, the love of your life has fallen for another. But I can give you the chance to see who her true love is in exchange for one small favor.”

“Sounds wicked, Hawkmoth.”

_____________

“Have you guys seen Nino?” Alya asked her friends as she slid into her seat. They looked at each other with concern.

“We were going to ask you the same thing.” Adrien said, glancing at the door. Alya looked at her desk, cursing herself mentally for hurting him. Marinette grabbed her hand, looking into her eyes.

“It’ll be alright, Alya. I don’t know what happened between you guys, but it looks like he left you something.” Against the window was a new, shiny apple, with a note Alya took and read it out loud.

“‘You never finished your lunch. Love, Nino.’”

“Sounds like he’s looking out for you.” Adrien chimed, trying to lighten the mood. Alya looked at the apple whimsically, the corners of her mouth curled slightly. It gave her hope that they could talk things out later. Of course it would, the two could make it through anything. She took a bite of the apple, wanting to scarf as much of it down as she could before the next lecture.

As if on cue, the teacher walked in. “Alright class, you can take out your math textbooks… Does anyone know where Nino is? Adrien, you’re his seatmate.” Adrien stopped halfway through opening his book, caught off guard.

“I’m sorry Miss. Bustier, I don’t know.” In that moment, Alya slumped back in her seat. Thinking she fell asleep, Marinette tried to shake her slightly, but instead she slumped further into her chair and than fell to the floor. This got the whole class’s attention.

“Alya!” Marinette soon was on the ground next to her, and was startled to see how sickly she looked. The commotion from class disrupted the lecture, and the teacher walked over.

“What happened?” She asked.

“I don’t know. She was fine just a minute ago.”

“Marinette, can I trust you to take her to the nurse’s office? As long as she didn’t hit her head, I think that’ll be faster than waiting for them to come take her.” Marinette nodded, a determined glimmer in her eyes.

“You can count on me, Miss. Bustier.” Slinging one arm around her shoulder, Adrien grabbed the other. His classmate looked up at him in surprise.

“I’ll go too, if that’s alright?” Miss. Bustier nodded.

“Of course, but you both need to come back to class after this, alright?”

“Got it!” They spoke in unison before sharing a bashful glance. Neither had time to be shy, though, as their friend was in trouble. Their teacher opened the door for them to get out of the classroom, and once it was closed, they began heading for the nurses office. Alya felt cold, unusually so, and they became increasingly worried.

“Hey, Marinette? Something doesn’t seem right about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, she was totally fine a minute ago, and now she’s stone cold. It just reeks of something.” She turned her head awkwardly to face him, readjusting Alya’s arm.

“You don’t think it could be an akuma attack?”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“But why Alya?”

“I don’t know- watch out!” An onslaught of apples rained from the sky, and the two found themselves on the ground. Marinette turned Alya over after the two dropped her, trying to make sure that she was okay. She hadn’t responded to any of it, and the only indication that she was even alive was her shallow breathing and a faint pulse in her wrist.

“Haha! That was almost too easy!” A new supervillain came centerfield. He had a black cloak around him, concealing his body and face. Upon a quick examination, they could see that the apples come from a sack strapped to his back, shot by what looked like a giant slingshot. He stood on the railing, walking towards them with an air of ease. Marinette hugged Alya’s head to her chest, while Adrien took a stand.

“What did you do to her?” the chuckle that came from under the cloak sounded too familiar. “Nino?”

“I’m not Nino anymore, dudes and dudettes! I’m Bad Apple, and I’m here to test what true love really is.” Bad Apple Looked to Adrien, loading and aiming his slingshot. Adrien dodged three consecutive apple shots. Marinette already had Alya up in her arms.

“You take Alya and run, I’ll go find help!” Marinette called. More apples were shot between the two, forcing Marinette to back away.

“Oh no you don’t! I need you two here. Hey pal, why don’t you scram!”

“I’ll go get help, I promise!” Adrien called. He turned the other way, running as fast as he could. Without another distraction, Bad Apple put away his slingshot.

“Dudettes, have you heard the story of Snow White?” Marinnete was stepping backwards, not wanting to take her eyes off him. She was looking for the most opportune time to run, get Alya to safety and transform. But where would she run to, and where could she keep Alya so she would be safe?

“Snow White is a fairy tale about a beautiful princess, who eats a poison apple and falls into a deep sleep.” She answered.

“Rightamundo! And only a true love’s kiss can break the spell! Ha! What a laugh, right?” She had just a few more steps to take before she could sprint down the corner. She’d lock her in the nurse's office and transform in their bathroom during the commotion, burst out and save the day, Classic Ladybug style!

Before that could happen, however, Bad Apple took his Giant slingshot and slammed the girls into the railing’s corner. They were essentially pinned by the wooden weapon.

“I know it’s not polite to hit girls, but I couldn’t have you leaving, see? I need you to test my new powers.”

“We don’t have time for games, Bad Apple!”

Marinette was baffled by the question. He said he needed to test his powers, was this part of that? But using his girlfriend as a test subject was undoubtedly cruel, no matter what sort of argument they must have had.

“Bad Apple!”

He took the end of his slingshot, ramming it into the railing around them. His face was only inches from hers. She could see Nino’s face from behind the shadow, a menacing grin replacing his usually friendly demeanor.

“If you really want her to wake up, why don’t you try it yourself? After all, a true love’s kiss breaks the spell!” He pushed his slingshot forward, making it tougher for her to move around. He wasn’t joking, was he?

Supervillains usually know the limitations of their superpowers, so why didn’t he? If he was doing this, that meant he had suspicion to believe that her kiss could potentially wake Alya up from the spell. That was still a chance, and whether or not it did, it still bought them some time until Cat Noir arrived.

She cupped her friends face. It wasn’t right to kiss someone when they were unconscious, but she’d make a point to apologize later. Pressing their lips together, her warmth against icy cold skin, she could instantly feel heat course through her unconscious body. Alya gasped for air as she was shocked awake, groaning after accidentally knocking their foreheads together.

She blinked a few times, orienting herself. Looking from Marinette to the slingshot to the Villian, her face went from confused to heartbroken.

“Nino?” She reached out, sliding off his hood. She never wanted this to happen. His face fell, and for a moment, his expression seemed natural again.

“Alya…” As the two were caught in the moment, Marinette pulled her back, kicking the handle of the slingshot out of his loosened grip and into his chin. He screamed, stepping back and cupping his face in agony. She pushed away the slingshot, grabbed Alya’s hand and made a run for it.

“Marinette, how could you!?” Alya looked back. The villain was gathering his composure. He picked up the slingshot and immediately charged at them.

Marinette opened the door to the nurses office, ushering Alya in. Out of gut reflex, she slammed the door shut when he got close, trapping Alya inside. She narrowly avoided a swing from the giant weapon. Bad Apple continued to swing, And Marinette did everything she could to dodge. She didn’t have the heightened physique of Ladybug right now, though, and she was quickly tiring out.

“Don’t open the door!” She called. Alya was inside the office, watching the fight from the window. She couldn’t just stand there and watch! She put her hand on the doorknob, but was stopped by one of the nurses.

“You going out there is only going to get more people hurt. Ladybug and Cat Noir will help her, right now you need to rest.” She took her hand off the knob, but she didn’t leave the window. While she was concerned for her friend, she had a greater objective right now to figure out. She had a vague idea of where the akuma might be, but where was it?

Marinette made a wrong move and took a hit to the gut. She flew, body falling to the ground, curled into herself. She looked up to see a blurred image of him above her, putting his hood back up and lifting his weapon for another blow. Then, he was gone.

Above her now stood Cat Noir. He lifted her to her feet, keeping an arm around her for support.

“Are you alright, Marrinette?” He asked her. He looked more serious than usual. Her vision was clearing up, and she was able to see the worry on his face. She gave him a nod.

“Good enough. You focus on apprehending the villain.” He gave her his cattish grin, letting her go to face the villain with his baton extended.

“Let the teachers know to keep classes in session for just a bit longer, can you do that?”

“You can count on me!” She gave him a thumbs up, feeling a bit light headed after a hard shot, but fine otherwise. While she was running back to her classroom, Chat Noir stopped an overhead swing by blocking with his baton. He smirked, confidence pouring off him as he jumped back, twirling his weapon with his fingertips.

“A slingshot, is that all Hawkmoth can come up with?”

Marinette barged back into the classroom, out of breath and clutching her stomach.

“Lock your door and call the other classroom teachers to do the same! There’s been an akuma attack.” Before anyone could say anything, she slammed the door shut and ran. She needed an empty classroom, stat. Once she found one, she tried to open the door, but it was locked.

“Hold on!” Said a small voice. Tikki zipped through the door, unlocking it from the other side. She went into the classroom, locking and leaning her back against the door. Her Kwami zipped around, resting by her head.

“Are you alright, Marinette?” She asked, concerned. The girl grimaced. She could hear voices outside looking for her.

“Honestly, I’m not so sure. But Ladybug has to be. Tikki, spots on!” She rushed out of the classroom while Bustier was calling her name.

“Oh, Ladybug! Is everything alright? One of my students left the classroom, and she looked like she was hurt, I-”

“There’s absolutely nothing for you to worry about, ma'am. I’ve taken her outside, she’s safe. I need you to go back to your class and make sure the students stay hidden. Can you do that?” Bustier gave a thankful sigh of relief, followed by a confident raise of her fists.

“No one will be hurting my precious students, good luck, Ladybug!” After Ladybug thought her teacher was close enough to the classroom, she hurried to go meet Chat Noir.

Ladybug came into the picture to find Cat Noir giving Bad Apple the run around. The crazy cat jumped and hung off of the metal bars above them by his feet.

“Nyeh nyeh! Looks like the cat’s outsmarted the rat this time.” Taking an apple from his bag, he loaded his slingshot and fired. Cat Noir caught it with one hand, a flawless, cocky grin on his face. “Thanks for the snack, pal.” She reached her hand out towards him. 

“Cat Noir, don’t! If you eat it, you’ll fall asleep!”

Dropping the apple, he swung over, using his staff to lower him safely to the ground.

“That makes sense. Nice to finally see you, m’lady~?” He said, holding out his hand. She chuckled, pushing his hand aside.

“Sure thing, Chat.” As apples came flinging at them, they ran down the hall together.

“Think sleeping beauty, once you’re asleep you can’t wake up without a kiss.”

“A true love’s kiss, huh? Well that doesn’t sound so bad to me.” His tail curled at the thought, and he raised his eyebrows suggestively. Ladybug was more then done with his shenanigans.

“Let’s get him to the baseball court. It’s safer to play a game of dodgeball there away from all the classrooms.” Her eyes caught a glimpse of the classroom windows, where teachers were ushering their students to get back. She didn’t want to have to worry about the civilians.

“Good idea!” They jumped the railing, Ladybug using her Yoyo to Lower herself to the ground. They turned around to see the villain above them. He was firing his slingshot.

“Looks like you’ve given me the upperhand here! Once you fall asleep, taking your miraculous will be like taking candy from a baby.”

“You won’t be putting this cat to sleep any time soon!” He fired the apples, and the two continued to dodge. One apple got scarily close to Ladybugs mouth. The smell was enough to make her sway a bit. That on top of the hit from before had her falling into Chat’s shoulder. He grabbed her other shoulder with his arm in an attempt to hold her up.

“Are you alright?” She put her hand on his shoulder, lifting herself up.

“Yeah, just don’t breathe the scent in, it’s strong.” He nodded. The two separated from each other when more came firing. Ladybug fell to the ground, getting juices from the splatted apples on her hands and side. She knew she needed to end this quickly.

“Lucky Charm!” She stood up with a dramatic flair, catching in her hands something unusual.

“A pocket knife?”

“That’s a little dark, M’lady, don’t you think?” He looked a little concerned, but Ladybug wasn’t as phased. She looked at the enemy closely, trying to figure out some explanation. The knife, the bag of apples, it made sense!

“Distract him, kay chat? I’ve got a plan.” Ladybug ran below the stairwell, where he couldn’t see her anymore. Chat taunted him, making faces and taking incredible leaps to avoid getting hit. Meanwhile, Ladybug yoyo’d herself on the opposite side of the building on the second floor.

She snuck up behind him, taking out her knife and slashing his bag open. Apples came pouring out, falling to the floor and through the bars to the first floor. He attempted to collect some in his arms, but he could only hold a few. His arsonal was now extremely limited. Feeling accomplished, Ladybug crossed her arms.

“Admit it, Bad Apple, you’ve lost.” He lifted his slingshot, bringing it down on her. She sidestepped and slashed through the elastic, leaving it no more than a giant stick. 

“Ladybug, the akuma is under his cloak, on his chest!” The two turned to Alya, who had stormed out of the nurses office. Bad Apple took the moment to charge her, but ladybug wrapped her yoyo around the top of the stick, halting him in front of her as he attempted to pry it free.

Alya bent down, picking up an apple and tossing it into the air, catching it again in a manner that was almost too relaxed for the situation. She walked closer to him, a confident sway in her steps.

“You wanted to see if I loved you, right?” As she stood in front of him, her voice low and filled with disappointment. “All you’ve proved is that I like her, and that you doubt me… Doubt us.” He thrashed about more, not wanting to let go of his remaining weapon.

“There’s no need to talk anymore!” He screamed. She smirked. She knew that wasn’t really Nino, that Hawkmoth was messing with his head, and making these negative feelings even more unbearable. But it still hurt.

“Well I don’t doubt us.” She took a bite of the apple and took a few more steps closer. She could just see his eyes before she fell into his arms.

Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn’t hear what was going on, Alya had been speaking too softly, but they did see her take a bite of the apple. Chat noir launched himself up to join her, about to pounce, but Ladybug held an arm out to hold him back.

“Wait a minute.” She wanted to watch what was happening. Bad Apple kneeled to the ground with her in his arms. He laid her down and pulled back his hood, revealing his face and an unusually soft expression. Brushing hair out of her face, he cupped her cheek as he bent down. He placed his lips softly against hers, and seconds went by before Alya’s hand held the back of his head towards her.

When they parted, she moved the front of his cloak to reveal a glass, circular capsule coming off of his chest. Inside of it was a partially eaten apple, somehow still unbrowned. Chat Noir walked forward, smiling at Nino.

“Bad Apple, you need to steal his miraculous!”

“No can do, dude.” He looked up at Chat Noir. It was tough for Adrien to see his best friend Akumatized a second time. But it was almost over now.

“Cataclysm!” Destroying the capsule on his chest, the apple rolled across the floor. Ladybug crushed it with her foot, and the dark butterfly was released. It fluttered into the air, and Nino woke up confused on the ground.

“No evildoing for you little bug, time to de-evilize!” Cleansing the butterfly of its bitter nature, Nino returned to his normal self. Ladybug also returned the school back to back to how it should be, getting rid of all the apples, along with her own pain.

Alya was hugging Nino close. So close. Chat Noir and Ladybug looked at eachother and fistbumped for a job well done.

“Pound it!” Ladybugs’s ring beeped for the final time, and she gave him a wave.

“Gotta run, bug out!” Her and Alya’s eyes met before she flew off, and she gave her a wink. That, Alya could tell, was a thank you. She yoyo’d to the top of the building, leaving the school to find a safe place to detransform. Meanwhile Chat Noir had another four minutes to spare. He walked over to his two friends, offering them each one of his hands.

“What… Happened?” He asked. Chat Noir got down to his level, crouching and sitting on his ankle.

“You were akumatized by Hawkmoth, but everything’s alright now. Both of you are safe.” Alya pulled away from her boyfriend for a moment to look at Chat Noir directly.

“Thanks, Chat Noir.” Alya said. Chat jumped up, taking out his baton by twirling it, tossing it in the air, and finishing it with a bow. He definitely wanted to leave them with a good impression.

“No trouble at all! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta go.” Once he was out of site, Alya turned back to her partner. She rubbed his back, making calming, slow, circling motions.

“Are you okay?” She asked him. He seemed crestfallen, hunching over. Crossing his arms, he closed his eyes for a minute. Alya thought for a moment that he was still mad at her.

“Yeah... I’m not sure if I’m really cut out to be a hero of Paris, Alya. I was akumatized by Hawkmoth for the second time!” She kissed his cheek, giving him a hug.

“Don’t forget that I’m a hero, too, and I’ve been akumatized before, and Chloe was akumatized, what, three times? And as her superhero form! I’m sure Chat Noir and Ladybugs secret identities have also been akumatized, too, and we can’t forget about Mr. Pigeon, right?” She chuckled briefly, relieved to see the smilest uptwitch of his lips. “There is nothing to be ashamed of… Besides, I’m the one who made you so upset in the first place I should have realized how uncomfortable you’d be with… You know.”

“No, Alya, that wasn’t your fault. I didn’t listen to what you had to say, I just lashed out. If I’m your partner, I should want you to be happy no matter what! That’s why I’ve decided something.” Alya chuckled, her arms around his neck.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“That we’re going to get you a girlfriend.” They laughed together. Alya knew that Nino couldn’t remember what had happened. He had no confirmation that she really did like the both of them, since Alya couldn’t exactly get footage of herself. But he put his trust in her, and didn’t doubt her feelings. For that, she was incredibly grateful.

“Thanks, Nino.” He wrapped his arms around her, and they stayed like that for a while. With the lockdown, they had the whole school to themselves, or at least, until the police came to call off the student lockdown Who knows, maybe at this point they would just get out of classes early.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah?” She said, pulling away just enough to look him in the eye. He took her wrist, pulling it towards his face and kissing the back of his hand.

“Are you also crushing on Ladybug?” She started laughing, a hearty, warm sound that rang through the halls. Nino’s heart swelled seeing how happy his girlfriend really was.

“I can’t keep anything from you, can I?”


	3. Chapter 3

“Thanks for having us!” Rose said, walking into the bakery. She was, as usual, holding hands with Juleka.

“Thanks” Juleka said shyly. As they walked by, they could hear Mrs. Cheng and Mr. Dupen talking about how cute the two girls are. Rose smiled, while Juleka was more than a little embarrassed. The two went up the stairs to join Marinette, opening the door to greet Alya, Mylène. And Alix.

“Took you two long enough!” Alix said from the computer. She span around twice in her chair before putting her feet back up on the table.

“We’ve got snacks!” Alya put a plate of pastries in front of the two girls.

“You know, usually snacks means a bag of chips, not macarons.” Alix chimed in.

“That’s part of what makes Marinette’s house so special!” Rose declared. Marinette smiled bashfully.

“Oh c’mon guys, cut it out.” The host of the night took a macaron off of the plate and popped it into her mouth before giving Rose and Juleka a hug. “Thanks for coming, guys! It’s great to have you.” 

“It’s nice to be here.” Juleka said, grabbing a sweet and hanging it in front of Rose. Rose took a bite, cuddling into her while Juleka ate her half.

Tonight was girl’s night. Every so often, all of the girls got invited to sleep over at Marinette’s house, where they would play video games and enjoy sweet pastries. While Marinette’s parents didn’t mind boys sleeping over, some of the girl’s parents weren’t comfortable with the idea of a coed sleepover, same with some of the guys parents. It was overall easier to have a night with the girls and invite the guys over separately for an afternoon.

They all got together to play Max’s cool new fighting game, which was given to her free of charge as a thanks after she invited him to play with her family. They came up with their own tournament, and of course Marinette was the winner. When her parents heard her playing it, however, they had to join in, and Mrs. Dupen-Chang won by a landslide. It was a fun time, but soon it was time to kiss her parents cheeks and get ready for bed.

The girls went to the bathroom in turns brushing their teeth and changing into their pjs. Somewhere in the midst of it all when Rose was in the bathroom, they got into a big tickle fight. She was concerned when she came out to everyone lying on the floor, laughing about something. But soon things settled down into late night chatting.

“Have you guys heard of never have I ever?” Alix asked the group. The rest of the girls shook their heads. “Well, here’s how it works. We all sit in a circle, holding up all ten of our fingers! We take turns going around the circle saying things we’ve never done before, and if someone else has done that, they have to put down a finger! The last person with fingers up wins!”

“That sounds fun!” Rose squealed.

“That sounds fine by me! Any objections, girls?” Alya looked around. Everyone seemed eager to try something new. “Then let’s begin! Alix, you introduced the game to us, so you start.”

“Okay! Never have I ever kissed someone! Discounting family of course, and kisses relating to akuma attacks. I think everyone in Paris lost their first kiss from Zombizu then if they hadn’t already.” Everyone else in the circle put down a finger.

“Who have you kissed, Marinette?” Marinette realized then that she’d made a mistake: all of the people she’s kissed have been connected to her identity as Ladybug. She thought fast on her feet.

“I-Uh- the film competition! I had to kiss Adrien for that, remember?” Alya laughed, looking at her with a lifted brow.

“Girl, I know you didn’t forget Chloe barging in before that happened. Fantasies don’t count here! Unless you’ve got something else to say?” She stammered, thinking back in her head if there was another time. Her kissing Alya was part of an akuma attack, and she couldn’t tell them about Chat Noir without it being suspicious. Then she remembered after their first trip to the ice rink.

“I also kissed Luka on the cheek after our first Skate night, does that count?”

“On the cheek? That’s lame… But I guess it counts.” Alix commented. Marinette smiled wide, while the other girls cooed about her and the boy a year above them. Next in the circle was Juleka.

“Um… Failed a math test?” Alix and Marinette both put fingers down.

“Ya gotta say ‘never have I ever’ before what you say, but good one! Kay, Rose?” Rose put a finger to her chin.”

“Hm… Never have I ever finished a quart of ice cream in one sitting!” Everyone kept their fingers up.

“Marinette, put your finger down.” Alya said. Marinette smiled sheepishly. So far, she was the person with the most fingers down. Next, however, it was her turn.

“Never have I ever… Been good at a sport!” Rose, Alix, and Alya each put down a finger.

“My sister forced me into doing martial arts as a kid-” Alya added “-and I think I was pretty good at it at the time. I’m surprised though, Marinette, isn’t your mom really good at martial arts?”

“She’s incredible! She taught me some basic self defense, but I didn’t really pick up much else.” Everyone in the circle laughed together. Alix crossed her arms as best she could while keeping her hands splayed.

“You guys need to pick some more questions about dating, I can win at those! Alya, your turn.”

“Kay, Alix! Never have I ever… Crushed on someone else’s date.” She did a scan of the room, and noted that it was just Marinette who put a finger down.

“I didn’t expect that one, Marinette!” Mylène leaned closer, as well as some of the other girls. Suddenly she was the main attraction.

“Well I don’t know if it’s technically official, but I think Adrien and Kagami might be dating?” Alix slammed her hands against the floor.

“What, seriously!? You’re kidding! I knew they were hanging out, but I didn’t know they were dating! This sucks.” Marinette shook her hands, attempting to be reassuring while still holding up her six fingers.

“No! It’s fine, really. He asked her out first, and I’m just glad he’s happy…” An uncomfortable silence filled the room. It was clear to everyone that Marinette was head over heels for him. And based on what little Alya knew of the incident at the Art Gallery, there was no way he hadn’t caught on. But even knowing that she liked him, quite a lot, he didn’t have to guts to even properly turn her down. It was actually somewhat upsetting.

But then it was Mylène’s turn. She leaned back on her hands, looking at the sky.

“Gee, this is harder than I thought- hold on… Never have I ever… Stolen anything!” Alya and Alix put down a finger without hesitation, and after some thought, Juleka put down one, too. Marinette put one down with a sheepish grin after getting a look from Alya, who obviously was thinking of Marinette stealing her crushes phone to delete her embarrassing voice message.

“Looks like Rose and Mylène each only have one finger down. I don’t think I can get both of you down, but I can get one of you. Never have I ever liked a girl!” Rose and Juleka each put fingers down, and Alix was too busy smirking to herself to notice that Alya put her finger down, too.”

“Really, Alya? Ooh, who was it!” Rose asked, alerting everyone in the group to Alya’s girl-crush. She smiled, taking a glance at Marinette. Of course she hadn’t put a finger down.

“Well I liked plenty of girls at my old school.” She waved off the question, but the other girls weren’t satisfied.

“You had plenty of time at our school before dating Nino, surely you liked someone before that?” Mylène asked.

“Hm…” Alya started, dramatizing the pause. “Well, if you girls have to know, I totally was crushing hard on Ladybug!”

“Does that count? That’s basically a celebrity crush!” Alix said, disappointed in the answer. The other girl’s were chatting a while, but Marinette stared at her in shock.

“You like Ladybug?” She asked, her voice pitched. Alya chuckled, putting a hand on her hip in the coolest way possible for sitting down.

“Is it that much of a surprise?” 

“She does run a whole blog about her.“ Juleka commented. Alya gave her finger guns, and everyone laughed, including an awkward Marinette chuckle.

The game continued through the night, as the girls got more and more tired. Mylène was the last one with fingers up, and as soon as she heard that she won the game, she laid on the floor and passed out. Rose and Juleka took her couch, while it was Alix’s turn to take the bed. Marinette and Alya set up a mound of pillows next to each other.

While Alya got cozy and fell asleep, Marinette was staring at the ceiling. How was she going to fall asleep like this? She turned on her side, staring at Alya’s back. Alya had been her best friend that year, and probably was the best friend that she’d ever had. She had never considered that Alya would like her, let alone like girls in general.

She always listened to Marinette gush about her crushes, but Marinette never onced asked about hers. Was she a bad friend? No, if Alya hadn’t told her, there was probably a reason. It wasn’t just her, after all, none of the girls knew that Alya was bi (Or was she pan? Marinette knew those were two different things, but she wasn’t sure what the difference was). Maybe she just hadn’t been ready to come out to everyone yet.

But now the question was, what should she do about it? And what had happened between her and Nino to make Nino Bad Apple? She still couldn’t understand why he needed to test his powers. Test… A true loves kiss? Were him and Alya okay?

She looked one more time at Alya’s back, desperately wanting answers. She’d talk to her in school, she thought, tired and desperately needing to sleep. Marinette closed her eyes, already having said goodnight to Tikki resting softly in her diary box.


	4. Chapter 4

The week had started, and class was in session. Alya was focused on class, taking occasional glances down to write in her notebook. Marinette, meanwhile, could never quite keep her head out of the clouds with Adrien sitting in front of her.

Realizing that her mind had wondered a bit too long, she was lost in the classroom discussion. She leaned over to look at what Alya had jotted down, hoping to copy a line or two of notes when she saw it.

Alya wasn’t taking notes, she was writing about the Ladyblog. Marinette’s cheeks went pink, and she snapped her head forward again. She fidgeted with her hands under the table, remembering the game from the other night. That Alya had had a crush on Ladybug. But that was in the past, she reminded herself. Now she liked Nino, after all.

But after sneaking one more glance at her notes, she noticed the heart next to Ladybugs name and closed her eyes. How was she supposed to focus like this?

The end of class came, and Marinette saw Alya start to put her books away. She stood up out of her seat and jumped in for the kill.

“Hey Alya, can we eat lunch together, just you and me? I have something I want to ask you.” her best friend gave her a cheerful thumbs up.

“Of course!... Nino?” There was a pause in between as Alya realized the uncomfortableness of her situation. He also took a bit to answer, but sounded content.

“Sounds good. As long as my best bro here can keep me company?” Nino wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Of course! We’ll catch up with you guys after class. See you Alya, Marinette!” He walked away, and as soon as he was out the door, Marinette melting back into her chair.

“He said my name~.” Whistfully dreaming back to the moment that had just happened, Alya took her by the arm and helped her stand.

“Girl, you’re just too funny! C’mon, I’m starving.” Marinette grabbed her bag, and Alya already had hers. They walked out of the building, Marinette texting her mom that she wouldn’t be home since she was out grabbing a bite with Alya. Her mom quickly responded with a picture of her and his husband working at the bakery, an awkward selfie that involved him bending down so much to where his head was resting sideways on her shoulder. It must have been a slow lunch day, a nice break for the two of them.

They walked together, looking for a place to sit down and eat. It was lightly drizzling, and just a bit chilly. But neither of them really minded. Suddenly, Alya grabbed Marinette/s arm, to which she flinged and pulled her arm away. Alya held her arms up, a bit surprised by how jumpy her friend seemed today.

“Woah, sorry about that! I just wanted to point out the bakery over there, they make really god sandwiches, too.. Are you alright?” She reached out, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. Her face felt warm, and she looked away.

“M-me! No, of course not! I mean, yeah, of course! Why would I be?” She smiled wide, and Alya patted her shoulder.

“Marinette, you need to get some sleep, kay? I know you’re busy, but you gotta take care of yourself.” Alya walked towards the bakery, making the decision for the two of them. Marinette, grateful for the misunderstanding, walked in behind her. The girl behind the counter lifted her head.

“Why, if it isn’t marinette Dupen-Cheng! Need anything?” She said leaning against the counter. Marinette had probably help run over emergency supplies of flour or milk here before. Her Parents asked her to do tasks like that sometimes, helping out the other bakeries when they were stuck and didn’t have time to get to a store that sold bags of flour big enough to supply them.

“No, we’re just here to grab a bite! It’s lunch break.” She said. They two ordered sandwiches after some chit chat and sat down in the cafe.

“So…” Marinette said, cutting straight to the point. “I wanted to ask you, what did Nino get so upset about? It’s unusual to see him like that.” Alya Stopped midway through her bite, eyes flashing up and meeting bluebell colored irises.

“I-uh-” Alya didn’t want to continue- What is Marinette asked who? She sifted through her phone for the sound of her phones ringtone, glancing up and down in the hopes that Marinette wouldn’t notice. And when she found it, she clicked the button, playing one of the generic phone ring tones before looking up at Marinette.

“Hold on, it’s my mom- Hello?” She paused the sound, hoping that the sounds of the bakery was enough to justify the lack of voice being heard over the phone. “Yeah? Okay, hold on- My mom has to talk to me Marinette so I think I’ll head back, kay? Bye!” Alya got up, leaving her partially eaten sandwitch behind as she walked out.

Marinette was confused. They could have talked here, she wouldn’t have minded. But as Marinette thought more, she realized that it was probably just an excuse to get her out of that situation. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to tell Marinette. Marinette realized that she would have to respect her friend’s privacy.

…

But Nino’s was still up in the air. She knew somewhere in the back of her head that this was an awful thing to do, but she felt like she needed to know. What was Alya keeping from her? So, there she was, back at the school and bending back behind the stairwell. She would’ve gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for a meddling girl.

"Well if it isn't Dupen-Chang! On her knees where she belongs." It was Chloe, hands on her hips with Sabrina no where to be found.

"Chloe, now is not the time! Can you keep it down, please?"

"Oh yeah? And why should I listen to you?" 

"Chloe, please, this is serious!" She sees Adrien perk up, and Marrinette grabs her hand, pulling Chloe to the ground with her and covering her mouth. After getting a sharp glare from the princess of Paris herself, Marinette eases her hand off of her mouth.

"Well if it was really that serious, I would already know about it. So spill."

"Why should I tell you?" Chloe stands up, waving her hands. Nino spots her briefly as she calls over.

"Oh Adrikins~!" Marinette tugs her arm down forcefully, bringing her to the ground with a thump.

"Alright, I get it! I'm concerned about my friend Alya, but she keeps evading my questioned. So I'm trying to easedrop on her boyfriend to see what’s going on. I think it has to do with the most recent akuma attack." Chloe raises a brow, genuinely surprised by the honest answer. That loo, however, turns into a smug grin.

"I guess I don't have any qualms in helping you, since you so obviously need my assistance." Marinette was getting annoyed. Couldn't she mind her own business? Why of all times was she choosing now to talk to her?

Adrien and Nino got up out of their chairs, and were heading outside of the Building. Marinette peaked out from behind the pole, waiting a few seconds after they left to figure out her next plan. Meanwhile, Chloe strolled out casually.

"Well, come on! We are supposed to be eavesdropping, right?" Chloe strutted out of school, and Marinette dashed out in an attempt to make sure she didn’t do anything rash.

The two girls followed the guys through the streets, and surprisingly enough to Marinette, Chloe knew what she was doing sneaking behind them. She strutted down the street confidently behind them while Marinette was ducking around corders and behind cars.

“Chloe, get over here!” Marinette whispered. She tried to grab Chloe’s arm, but Chloe snapped it back.

“Paws off! I am not letting you tug me around for the third time today.” She brushed off her sleave, cocking her head up and looking down at Marinette. “Daddy bought this for me, and I don’t want it ruined.”

She continued waling forward, and Marinette jumped from place to place. She caught a few odd stares, but she didn’t mind as long as she wasn’t caught by Adrien or Nino. Soon, though, she was stopped when Chloe blocked her way.

“And what are you doing?”

“Um, hiding? Like you should be?”

“Ridiculous! You’re attracting the attention of everyone by acting like a total creep. If you’re going to do this, you are not going to embarrass me.” Chloe took Marinette by her hand, pulling her out of her spot and hooking their arms together. Marinette’s distain for the situation read clear as day on her face.

“Chloe! Ugh, is this really necessary?” Marinette said, hushed.

“You think I want to be clinging to your grubby arm? I’m doing this because you insist on getting us caught. You said this was important, take it more seriously and I won’t have to resort to such drastic measures.” Chloe faced forward, and in that moment Marinette could see just how serious she was. Her eyes were locked on target, her footsteps were soft, and while her voice usually rang across the school, it was oddly muted. Marinette smiled, if slightly.

“Thanks, Chloe.” Marinette said. She stopped tugging her arm away, and instead adjusted their arms so they were hooked together more naturally. They’re footsteps seemed to sink up, too. Chloe’s cheeks tinged pink, and Marinette couldn’t help but let out a tiny laugh.

“What’s that about?” She asked, glancing to the side with her signature look of disgust. Marinette shook her head.

“Nothing. Let’s go!”

Once they got to the park, Chloe and Marinette hid behind the Merry-go-round. Once the guys sat down at one of the benches, Marinette peaked out to see where they were. That’s when she spotted him staring at the kids, too young to go to school, playing with their parents. The smile on his face was just too cute for her to resist! Her cheeks turned pink and her heart oozed of affection for the boy.

“Adrien~” She sighed. She was entering a dream-like state before snapping herself out of it. She was there for Alya… Or, for information about her, anyway.

“The coast is clear.” She informed Chloe. Chloe opened her bag, out from which she took out a little device no bigger than a common flash drive. “What’s that?”

“It’s a microphone.” She said, making it sound as though that were common knowledge. “I’m not risking getting caught sneaking around by my precious Adrikins!” She handed the object to Marinette. “This is your job. Don’t just stand there, throw the microphone into the bushes!”

While Marinette wasn’t one to take orders from the Mayor's daughter, she instinctively took her shot. Even without Ladybugs heightened abilities, she managed to hit it straight in the bushes. She could see them turn around to check what the noise was.

Meanwhile, Chloe had her phone out. With a satisfied grin, she opened an app and was ready to go. Marinette heard the audio start and leaned in closer to hear.

“Dude, what was that?” Nino asked. Adrien shrugged.

“Probably just a squirrel.” He responded. Marinette was much more confident about this plan, now.

“What was it you wanted to talk about, Nino?” Adrien asked. His sweet voice sounded very slightly gargled by the speaker, but all of the words were clear otherwise.

“It’s about Alya.” He said. “And what happened a few days ago.” Adrien put a comforting arm around his friend.

“A couple days ago?... oh, bad apple! That’s right, you never told me what happened. Is everything alright?” Nino nodded. 

“Yeah, we’re cool now. Basically what happened is she told me she’s poly, and I totally blew up at her.” Adrien started blankly.

“I’m not really sure what you mean, but I’m sure you had a good reason for getting angry.” Nino dipped his head and grinned in a way that made you sad looking at him.

“Not really. What I mean is that I’m not the only one she likes. She also likes Ma-maidens!! Chicks, too.” Adrien continued to stare blankly. 

“So she’s gay?” He asked, confused. Nino looked at him, no longer sad, but chuckling at his confused friend.

“No, she wouldn’t be dating me if she was gay. She’s bi, it means she likes both genders.”

“I’m still confused, what did you get angry about?” He asked Nino. Nino continued patiently, pulling himself away from Adrien’s arm to look him in the eye.

“Being poly means you like more than one dude or gal at once.” Adrien’s face soured.

“Isn’t that... cheating?” He asked. Nino put his hand on his best friend’s shoulder.

“No, dude. Cheating is when you go date multiple people without the a-okay of all your dates! And usually you do it without telling anyone. A good poly relationship means that everyone communicates who’s dating who and everybody’s chill with it!” 

Adrien was silent for a few moments, processing everything. The idea made him squirm. Sure, he liked more than one person. Right now he was fighting his love between his Lady and Kagami. But he didn’t really feel comfortable having both. 

“Dude?” Adrien looked up, shaken from his thoughts.

“I’m good. I think I understand it conceptually, but it still sounds kind of weird.” Nino chuckled.

“That’s where I’m at too, bro. I want to be supportive of Alya, and I trust her with everything I have! But I still don’t feel totally used to the idea of Alya kissing Ma-Maaaany people! Like, many, more than one, you know? But uh, yeah, I think I can adjust.” While Nino made a horrible attempt to not tell Adrien who Alya likes, Adrien seemed to be thinking hard about the subject. Marinette, meanwhile, felt as though she now understood everything.

“I’m impressed that you’re doing so well with this. How do you know so much about it, anyway?”

“The internet, man!! You can read up on just about anything, it’s pretty sick.”

The conversation trailed from there as the two enjoyed the nice weather. Marinette had heard all that she needed to hear for that day, and she took off back towards the school.

“Thanks!” She called back. Chloe looked baffled at her sudden departure.

“You could at least help me get back the Mic!!” Chloe watched herself be ignored and crossed her arms, looking at the benh. She closed the app on her phone and made her way over to their bench.

“Adrakins~!” She called, reaching down to hug him and interrupting their conversation. “I dropped something in the bushes, can you get it for me?” She fluttered her lashes, trying to look convincing. Adrien smiled awkwardly, putting his hands on her shoulders and pushing her away.

“Sure thing, Chlo. It’ll be just a moment, is that alright?” He asked Nino. He nodded, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head.

“Yeah, go for it!” While Adrien bent down into the bushes, Chloe looked off to where Marinette disappeared to, mentally patting herself on the back for a job well done.


	5. Chapter 5

Ladybug was hanging outside of Alya’s window. She watched her city lights in a moment of wonder. She had seen more gorgeous sights as Ladybug than she ever had in all the years she grew up there. Being able to leap over buildings and hang off of windows stories high, she could see everything pretty much whenever she wanted. And now, watching the few cars roll by as people left for their homes, lights flicker out as shops closed and people headed to bed, feeling a cool breeze on her face, she cherished the moment.

She took a deep breath, wondering if she should rethink her plan. She was up here for a reason, albeit not a very smart one.

“Marinette, you can’t date a civilian as Ladybug! It’s too dangerous.” She recalled Tiki telling her earlier. Marinette had been pacing back and forth in her room. She had a picture of her and Alya up on her screen that she would glance at occasionally.

“I know, Tikki. But it’s going to be the easiest way to figure out if I could like her back without jeopardizing my friendship with her. Besides, she is a superhero, afterall. Think of it like I’m asking Rena Rouge.” Tiki crossed her stubby arms, flying in front of Marinette’s face.

“If you aren’t sure enough to ask her as Marinette, should you really be asking her out at all?” Marinette furrowed her eyebrows at the small bug.

“It’s not like that, Tikki! Well, it sort of is. But Alya likes Ladybug, not Marinette. If I’m going to ask her out, it has to be as Ladybug.” She looked at the clock. It was nighttime, and finally around the hour when all the shops closed their doors. She needed Paris to head to bed for the night to execute her plan.

Tikki noticed her glance at the clock, buzzing in her ear. “Marinette, this is a bad idea!” The girl shook her head, giving her a determined stare.

“Tikki, Transform me!” 

And now, here she was. Before she could back out, she knocked on the window. She didn’t get a response. After a few moments, she took a closer look through the window to see Alya asleep with her laptop on her lap and her earphones in. It’s no wonder she couldn’t hear her.

She pulled on the window, and was glad to see it was open. She put one food it the room, trying not to make too much noise. Her clumsiness got the better of her, however, and she came stumbling to the ground with a thump! Alya bolted up, a hand on her heart in the surprise.

“Woah! Who’s there?” She turned on her phone light to illuminate a Ladybug that was now holding her head. A gasp slipped out before she pushed her laptop to the side, swinging her legs over the side of her bed, putting on her glasses and rushing to the fallen hero.

“Ladybug, what are you doing here!” She asked, startled by her appearance. “Is there an akuma to take care of?” Ladybug shook her head.

“No, no! It’s nothing like that. I’m actually here on personal business.” Alya’s eyes lit up. She held her hand out, and Ladybug clasped it, lifting herself up off the ground.

“Is everything alright!?” Alya’s expression changed instantly from excited to terrified.

“That’s my sister! She can’t find you in here-” She looked to both sides, trying to find a spot for her to hide. Hearing the doorknob turn, she took a dive behind the bed, landing just in time for her sister to swing the door open.

“Do I have to hurt somebody!?” She said. Punching the palm of her other hand. Alya raised her hands innocently.

“Calm down, I’m alright!” She said with a chuckle. “It was getting stuffy in here, so I decided to open up a window! But I guess I was more tired than I thought.” Her sister looked towards the bed. Alya’s heat skipped a beat; did she know? She was convinced when she started walking towards the bed- “I can explain!”

But Alya was ignored. She took a few more steps towards the bed, and Ladybug held her breath. She scootched as close to the bed as possible, but there was no way she could fit under it. It would just take a quick peak over the mattress for her to get caught… But their fears were assuaged when she closed her sister’s laptop.

“You’re tired ‘cause you stayed up late writing for your blog again. You have to sleep well if you want to be strong like me! So go to bed, okay?” She walked back over, placing her hand on her long, messy head of hair. Alya smiled, a sense of relief and confidence washing over her.

“I will, don’t worry. Have a good night, sis!”

“Night!” A few seconds after the door was closed, Alya walked back over and offered her a hand.

“‘M’lady?’” She mimicked chat Noir down to the slightly raised eyebrow. Ladybug laughed, accepting her help and finally standing on her own two feet. She brushed off her suit, grinning.

“You’ve got that act down to a T except for one thing, Chat Noir can’t act!” The two laughed, and Ladybug continued. “You were working on the Ladyblog?” Alya nodded, her eyes bright as stars. She rushed to the bed, opening her laptop of showcasing her new article about the last super villain they fought.

“Of course! How could I not, your last battle was with my boyfriend, after all. And having been up so close, I snuck some great shots!” She swiped through the photos, some of which Ladybug had no idea how she managed to take. She wondered what Nino said when he got to see the pictures, or if he even knew they had been taken, yet.

Alya continued on about her article, while the hero listened attentively. She couldn’t find a good opening to intervene and do what she came to do. Instead, Ladybug was the one being asked questions.

“What was the hardest part of the battle?”

“I saw you took a pretty bad slip, were you okay?”

“How did you know where the akuma was?” Ladybug paused, a confused look on her face.

“But you were the one to tell me where the akuma was.” Alya lifted a finger pointedly.

“Well yeah, but it’ll sound more believable if you’re saying it. Speaking of which, can we get this recorded?” Alya whipped out her phone, to which Ladybug put her hand on top of and pushed down. They needed to get to the point.

“Maybe later, I don’t have much time tonight. Listen, I know this seems out of the blue, but I heard a story about how the Ladyblogger had a thing for Ladybug. Would you like to go hang out at some point? Like, a date.” Alya stood, mouth ajar.

“You’re kidding, of course I would! But how did...” Ladybug put her finger to her own mouth in a hushed motion.

“That’s my little secret. Now, there are a couple things I need to clarify. This isn’t between you and me, but between Ladybug and Rena Rouge. And even among superheroes, no one can know about us. Do you understand?” Alya, who had been smiling widely, looked as though she was about to throw herself into Ladybugs arms when she was disrupted by a thought.

“Ladybug, I really do appreciate this. But I can’t accept your offer if it means keeping a secret from Nino.” Ladybug smiled. Of course, that made sense. But now she was getting another party involved. Still, she made a quick decision that she knew Tikki would be angry about later.

“You can tell him, He is a hero after all. But he can’t tell anyone either, alright? I know this is sudden, but what do you say?” Alya, face bright and flustered, was in shock.

“Yes! I mean, yes on my end. I need to talk with him first and make sure that it’s alright.”

“Of course.” Ladybug walked back to the window, her head hung low. This felt wrong. Tikki had told her not to do this, but she needed to know what it would feel like.

“And one more thing. I need you to understand that this is just one date, okay? We aren’t dating right now. I… Still don’t know how I feel about all of this.” Alya’s face fell.

“Ladybug, you know you don’t have to do this. Like, of course it makes me happy, but what you want comes first.” The hero lifted her head to her best friend, standing in front of her in pj’s she had seen multiple times before. She reassured herself mentally that this was something she wanted, at least for now.

“I want to try. I’ll be back here tomorrow night, is that enough time for you guys to talk?”

“Yeah, I think so. Have a good patrol, Ladybug!” She walked to the window, taking her yoyo and throwing it with super precision. With a wave, she was off into the night. The civilian ran to her window, watching Ladybug hop on the rooftops until she was too small to see. She continued to stare out the window for a moment, heart pounding hard enough that she could hear it.

Shoving her hand clumsily into her pocket, she attained her phone and proceeded to call Nino. After a few rings, she was beginning to think that he was asleep before hearing his voice on the other end.

“Alya? What’s up?” He asked, sounding more than groggy. She could practically hear him recoil from how loud she was.

“Nino, meet me in the park! I’ve got something insane I need to talk to you about!”

Meanwhile, Ladybug finished up her patrol. Hawkmoth was quiet that day, which meant that she had enough time to actually sit down and do her homework. Hopping from building to building, she eventually landed on her balcony. Then and there, she detransformed, wanting to sit outside for a minute. It felt a lot colder without her supersuit.

“Marinette!” She almost forgot about Tikki’s protests to the whole ordeal. She ignored her kwami, or at least attempted to. Tikki could be very persistent, leaning her little hands on her nose. 

“Marinette, we have to tell Master Fu about this!” She was panicked by the thought of that. Would he approve of the decision she had made? “You’re supposed to be the next guardian of the miraculous, you need to be more careful in the decisions you make! If anyone finds out Rena’s secret identity and that you two are dating, she’ll be in incredible danger.”

“Tikki, I need to ask for your trust in me. I know I don’t always make the right choices, and I know that two superhero’s dating is dangerous. But I really want this.” Tikki looked into Marinette’s eyes. Out all all of the holder’s she’d had, Marinette was one of the youngest. But at the same time, she was also one of the most powerful and passionate ones.

“Just promise me that if the time comes, you’ll do what’s right, even if it means taking away her Miraculous.” Marinette nodded.

“I will. I’ll also make sure she understands this, too. Thank you, Tikki!” She hugged her Kwami, which pretty much meant cupping her in her hands and holding her close to her face. The two laughed, sharing a moment before Marinette turned around in her chair to start her homework.

… Which was proving to be incredibly difficult. She had been so tired recently that she’d been dozing off in classes, and now she didn’t know how to do the work. She supposed she’d text Alya.

‘Do you know how to do the homework?’ She sent the message, and received a ping back only a few seconds later.

‘Sorry, I’m way busy tonight, girl! But I know someone who could help you…. ;)’

Marinette immediately knew who she had been talking about. She typed numerous frantic replies, all the while receiving no response. She laid down on her bed, holding a pillow to her face in an attempt to block out the light in her room for just a few moments. Her heart couldn’t take all of the excitement. Now not only did she have the biggest crush on the cutest boy in her class and some complicated feelings towards her best friend’s brother, but she was going on a date with her best friend as a superhero?

Eventually, she received a knock on the balcony door that lead to her room. Both her and Tikki looked at eachother, serious expressions on their faces. Only someone with a miraculous or someone who was akumatized could have been up there. Tikki stayed close by in case of an emergency, while Marinette grabbed the baseball bat that she had planned to give to her and Adrian’s first child on their 7th birthday.

Holding it up, she called out to the door. “Who’s there!?” A chuckled responded, and out popped a set of cat ears. Cat Noir jumped down into her room with a bow, while Marinette had the baseball bat above her head and ready to swing.

“No need to fear, Marinette, just a humble cat who heard through the grapevine that you needed help with some homework?” She lowered her bat to her side, the tip of it tapping on the wooden floor.

“Alya really does have some interesting connections…” She mumbled to herself. Chat’s ears perked up.

“What was that?” He said, leaning in. Marinette put a finger to his nose and pushed him away, smiling.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” Chat blinked a few times before smiling.

“It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to talk. How are you doing?” He said. Marinette thought back and realized that the last time Marinette and Chat Noir had seen eachother was during the fight with Bad Apple briefly, and before that… Well, that was when her dad got akumatized.

“I’m doing fine! No need to worry about me.” She smiled, taking her stuff out of her bag as they talked.

“So, what subject are you having trouble with, princess?” She took out a comically large pile of textbooks, placing them on the table with a huge thud.

“All of them. Are you up to the challenge?” 

“What kind of superhero would I be if I couldn’t master calculus?” He walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder as she flipped through books, pointing out what they were supposed to be doing and what she didn’t understand. As he explained the concepts, Marinette was catching on quick. 

First was calculus, which Marinette struggled a little more with. Then there was history where Chat read her the textbook so she could rest her eyes. He quizzed her on a couple facts afterwards to see what she remembered, and corrected her when she was wrong. Her French and English classes were pretty good already, but she definitely needed some studying. And he helped her figure out what subject to write about for a paper she had forgotten was due the previous day.

“You’re really smart, Marinette. Why are you so behind on your classes?” Marinette yawned, turning around in her chair and stretching her arms. A bit of conversation made for a nice break.

“To be honest, I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep.” Speaking of sleep, it was 1:00 am. Chat Noir understood the feeling to a certain extent. He had to study hard to keep up with the rigorous schedule his father forced him through, along with his duties as a superhero. But he almost always managed to get a good night of sleep.

“Why’s that?” He asked. 

“Oh! Well, uh, just stuff with school, being class president, helping out with the bakery, I also started designing for the new band Kittysection! And I’ve had a lot on my mind I guess.” Chat knew that Marinette did a lot of amazing things, but she never realized the toll it must have been taking on her. Adrien’s main focus was just keeping his grades up, and he was beginning to find ways to avoid Piano and fencing practice. Marinette on the other hand was taking on more and more things, committing her all to everything she could. She had been stretching herself too thin.

He looked at her face and noticed the bags under her eyes, remembered each time she came running to class late. Well, as far as he remembered she had always been a touch tardy, but it had gotten much worse in recent months. He swept Marinette out of her chair, where she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Chat!?”

“Someone needs to get a good night of rest tonight, alright?” He moved her covers to the side, placing her down gently on the bed. She sat up, beginning to protest.”

“Chat, I need to keep working! If I don’t get my grades up, my parents will kill me-” He gently pressed her back down, pulling the covers over her.

“Studying is most effective when you’re properly rested. We’ll get your grades back up, don’t worry.” He took her hand, kissing her knuckles like the gentleman he was. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be making my leave. But I’ll be dropping by to help out again soon, don’t you worry.” And off he climbed her ladder, leaving an odd emptiness in the room. Marinette heard Tikki say something, and she hummed in response. But she was already too out of it. She quickly dozed to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The next night, Marinette was pacing her room.

“Tikki, what do I do!? Do I bring her flowers, or is that weird? I know that’s a thing that the guy normally does, but there is no guy here, so I guess since I asked her out I’m the guy here??” Tikki shook her head. She still didn’t agree with what Marinette was doing, but she couldn’t stop her.

“But there is no guy here, Marinette! Youre both girls, remember?”

“Yes, Tikki, but there are still certain things that the hypothetical guys normally do, like bring flowers and chocolates and pay for dates and plan, while the girls try to look cute and help pick where to go and get swept off their feet. But what am I supposed to do?”

“Well, you get to decide that for yourself! You should do whatever works best for you two, not just do what you’re supposed to do.” Marinette stopped pacing the kitchen, realizing that her Kwami was right. She needed to do things her way, and no one else’s.

She came up with an idea.

Jumping to Alya’d window in the night, she gave it a knock. Alya went to the window, opening it to let her in. Before Ladybug could even speak, Alya jumped in.

“Yes! I will go on a date with you.” She was ready. Instead of being dressed in her pajamas, she was still wearing her school clothes. From what it looked like she had been doing her homework before Ladybug showed up. She had gotten everything out of the way for their date that day.

“Well, that’s uh, great to hear! I got you something from a bakery I passed along the way here, take it.” Alya opened the bag to find a cute little plastic bag of macaroons.

“Thank you! I love them. They’re from the Dupen-Chang bakery, right? I’d recognize this quality anywhere. Ladybug laughed.

“Something along those lines.” She had wanted to admit she made them, but Alya’s taste buds were too sharp. She couldn’t even accept such a compliment in her current form. Still, her face flushed slightly.

“ Now…” She held out the fox Miraculous box, and Alya’s face lit up in excitement. She put on the necklace, excited to see the kwami again.

“Trixx! It’s awesome to see you again!” He kwami smiled sweetly.

“To you as well.” Alya looked to Ladybug, who nodded. Taking a deep breath, Alya was ready to go.

“Trixx, Let’s pounce!” After her transformation, the two walked to the window and jumped through the night. They hopped right outside of town, to an area a little less populated. They walked through a little forested area as Ladybug tried to think of something to do. The only dates she had been on were with Luka and the Evilstrator. What was she supposed to do?

“Maybe we should get to know each other a bit better. Do you have anything you want to ask me? Besides my civilian identity, of course.” Rena snapped, showcasing her brief disappointment. But she continued to ask questions.

“Where did you hear I like you from?” Ladybug crossed her arms.

“Also an Identity related question.”

“How old are you? Do you go to school around here?”

“Okay, maybe we should do something else.”

“So, what do you have planned?”

“Well, I’m not sure, honestly. What would you normally do?”

“Ladybug, have you… Never been on a date before?” Ladybug stepped back, face flushing. She held her arms to herself defensively. Rena leaned into her, an air of confidence taking hold of her.

“W-wha!? No way! I’m Ladybug, Paris’s Superbug! Of course I’ve been on a date before. I just, well, need a minute to figure this out-” Rena leaned back against a tree. The gave her a moment, then two, then three, to stammer and mumble. At first it was cute, but then she noticed her begin to get worked up. Thinking on her toes, Rena had an idea.

She walked up to Ladybug, who was turned around and nw clutching her head. Rena lifted a finger, reaching forward and tapping her back. Ladybug paused her sputtering, turning around to see a mischievous fox. Rena’s lips curled as she took three steps backwards.

“Tag, you’re it!” She said, hopping away. Ladybug was in shock for a moment, watching her date disappear into the trees. Feeling a competitive spirit take over her, she put her hands confidently at her sides and stood up straight. Clutching her yoyo, she threw it into the branches and swung from tree to tree. While she could hear her movements, she couldn’t see where Rena was anymore. 

So, she hopped up into the trees, landing on a branch high above the others! She scanned her surroundings, watching for movement in the greenery like she watch trying to catch a spider in the grass. Catching an irregular movement, she honed in her sights and lept, feeling the rush of air against her face as she fell on target.

Rena, who had thought she had the upper hand, turned around in shock. She nearly dogged being grazed by ladybugs hand, jumping backwards to keep her eyes on her opponent. Ladybug smirked, using her lucky yo yo to catch her. Rena gasped as the yoyo took her by the wrist.

“Looks like I’m about to win.” She said, jerking her head slightly to move hr pigtails back into place. Rena scoffed in response.

“You still have to touch me to win, Ladybug.” She lunged forward, attempting to hit her target. Each time, she just narrowly missed, reeling in her yoyo further and further. Finally, impatient to win, she pulled Rena towards her.

Ladybug pulled her close, her yoyo hand clutching the other’s wrist. Her other hand rested firmly on the small of her back, capturing her fully in her arms. Rena’s right hand grabbed onto her waist for support, so she wouldn’t fully fall into her. Rena’s face flushed looking into her bluebell eyes.

“Caught you.” She said, brandishing a signature smirk. Rena wanted so badly to lean forward and kiss her. Their faces were so close, and while they had super stamina, she could hear Ladybugs breathing get just a bit heavier from all of the running. She felt her own heart beating hard enough to where she swore it could be heard a mile away. Rather than moving in for a kiss, she put her hand up and fixed her hair.

It took Ladybug a few seconds before she realized the awkwardness of the situation she put them in. She pulled back her yoyo, releasing Rena’s wrist. Rena held her wrist gently, noticing now the marks left behind.

“I’m not really sure if tag has a winner.” She asked, questionably. Ladybug crossed her arms, lifting her head high

“Of course it does! At least in this case it does. You challenged me, and I won.” Rena lifted up a finger, placing it down on Ladybug’s shoulder.

“You don’t win until I give up.” She stated, turning tail and running. The two chased after each other through the dark of night until the sun began to rise.

“It’s daytime already!? Oh no-” Ladybug looked at Rena, who had started laughing.

“It’s easy to get carried away with these superpowers. Seriously, can you ever get tired?” Rena asked. Ladybug chuckled, walking over and extending her hand for a handshake.

“Eventually you will. But I’ve never stayed transformed long enough to find out how long it takes. Speaking of, we need to get you back to your room before all of Paris starts waking up!” Rena knodded, sad but willing. She took her hand, shaking it firmly in a sign of tag truce before hopping away together.

The two jumped large buildings heading back to her room, while Rena used her ability to hide the two under the illusion of a clear sky. They made it safely back to her family’s apartment, and Rena detransformed.

“Here you go, Ladybug.” She said. “Thanks for tonight, it was… Miraculous?” Ladybug chuckled.

“I think that’s my line. And I want to thank you, too. I honestly jumped into this without a plan. Truthfully, I’ve never been on a date before. But you knew just what to do when I had no idea.” Alya smiled, baffled to have been complimented by both her hero and supercrush. 

“But honestly…” Ladybug continued. “... I’d like to really take you out for a date next time. And this time, I’ll be prepared! If you’re willing to give me another chance?” Ladybug reached out her hand, palm facing upwards. Alya noted in curiously, placing her hand on it. Ladybug bent over, kissing her knuckles before glancing up. The blogger’s heart was just about to melt.

“Of course!” She said, enthusiastically. Ladybug straightened back up, turning around and opening up the window.

“It’s a date then. See-ya!” And without another word, she went off. Alya ran to the window, trying to call for her.

“Ladybug, wait!” But it was too late. The bug was already out of her line of sight. She smirked and shook her head. She supposed that whenever Ladybug decided to show up would be a surprise, now.

Checking her phone, she noticed that she had three hours until she absolutely had to get up for school. And so, she set an alarm and crawled into bed. As she pulled the covers over her face, she knew she was going to be exhausted tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in the confines of her own room, Ladybug detransformed. Tikki zipped out of her earings, landing on her bed. Marinette, meanwhile, grabbed a cookie from a jar in her room and passed it over before heading to the desk.

“Marinette, aren’t you going to bed?” Her kwami asked, mouth half full of cookie. Marinette shook her head, pulling out her chair and sitting down. She opened up her sketchbook to a page full of designs.

“There’s a design contest I really want to enter, and I still have some homework to get done. I’ll sleep early tonight after classes, I promise.” Tikki doubted that statement a lot. But at this point, she knew that there was nothing she could do, she decided to curl up into Marinette’s covers, taking a nap while the girl worked through the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Alya, Nino and Adrien were sitting together in class talking. Or at least, Nino and Adrien were. Alya had her head down, and was getting some shut eye. Adrien looked from her to Nino questioningly.

“Is she okay?” He asked. Nino knodded., putting his hand on hers. She twitched in response, and he felt his chest get warm.

“Yeah, she just had a late night is all.” She had told him all about her adventure in a text conversation they had on their way to school (which they promptly deleted afterwards, just to be safe). He knew she had only slept a few hours, and promised to wake her up when classes started.

“Alright class, let’s get started!” The teacher eyed Marinette’s seat before moving on with the beginning of the lecture. She was so used to her being late that she had stopped asking where she was. No doubt Marinette would come running in with some excuse, only to be told to either sit down or go to the principal’s office. Her teacher was disappointed, honestly. Out of all of her students, she had never expected Marinette to be a trouble maker. Especially as their class president.

Meanwhile, Adrien caught a glimpse of Marinette running down the hall before entering class. He could just see her in the window from where he sat, although no one else seemed to have noticed her. At first, she looked like she was just catching her breath, but then he noticed her grab her head. She didn’t look okay.

She took a breath and entered the classroom, trying to sneak past the teacher. Of course, she was caught.

“Good Morning, Marinette. Would you like to come solve the next problem on the board.” She hadn’t even had time to put her stuff down. She walked up to the board with her bags still in hand. She grabbed a piece of white chalk and stared blankly at the blackboard. At first, she panicked. She hadn’t had a chance to do much more than the bare minimum amount of work, she didn’t study in depth at all. She began to panic, which wasn’t helped by the snicker on the other side of the classroom.

But then she realized that this problem wasn’t from last night. They were reviewing the whole of the chapter’s material! Luckily, this question was one that Chat had helped her with before. She walked through the steps, getting them almost entirely right up to a certain point.

“You forgot to carry the negative sign down. Other than that, good job. You can take a seat.” When she turned around, she had a relieved expression on her face. Alya gave her a pretty sleepy, but refreshed, thumbs up, while Adrien felt torn. On one hand, he was happy he got to help her. But on the other, he could now see just how tired she was. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were puffy. She yawned throughout most of the class, and he could see her subtly nodding her head down throughout the lecture.

After their first two classes, the bell rang. Alya put her head down, and Nino put a hand on her back. Adrien had walked up next to Nino, leaning against the table to chat. Meanwhile, Adrien saw Marinette take out her sketchbook, filled with designs. He could tell at a glance that she was participating in a fashion design contest. It wasn’t one of his father’s design, but it was being run by a popular enough magazine. And from the looks of it, her designs her fantastic… but a bit sloppier than usual. 

She tapped her pencil on the desk, over and over again. He could sense her frustration. It was going to be impossible for her to really get anything done in this state. He walked across his sitting area, crisscrossing his arms on her table and placing his head on his arms.

“Marinette, would you like to grab a coffee with me?” He asked her. Marinette slammed her book shut on her hand, opening it slightly to then remove her hand and close the book again. She smiled wide at him, her face bright red. Her eyes darted across the room, unable to concentrate on his face.

“M-m-me!? Coffee? I mean- yeah, of course I’ll go out for coffee with you! I mean, not go out for a coffee, but go get coffee! Heheh.” She scratched the back of her head, finally looking him in the eye. He had a carefree smile plastered on his face, the find of grin that showed off his modeling capabilities.

“Sounds great! C’mon, let’s go before our next class starts.” He grabbed his backpack, and she did hers. She looked to Alya, who had one eye open and starring. She gave her a thumbs up, tucking her head back under her arms when Adrian turned around.

“Why don’t we invite Alya along! She looks like she could use one too.” Adrien’s eyes fell on her. Marinette made a good point.

“I don’t know dudes, she’s pretty fast asleep.” Nino shook her, and she gently tapped his hand away. Nino was definitely in on this, Marinette could tell.

“We’ll bring her one back. Do you want one, Nino?” He shook his head.

“Nah, man, I hate coffee. I’m more of an energy drink guy myself!” Adrien stuck his tongue out.

“Gross… But if I see something you might like, I’ll nab you one.” Nino passed Adrien Five Euro, reaching across his “sleeping” girlfriend.

“Thanks, man! Have fun you two-Ow!” It was obvious to Marinette that Alya had kicked him under the table. But Adrien didn’t seem to notice. Instead, the two walked out of the school together.

Since Adrien didn’t have much to say, and Marinette was too nervous to speak, the two walked in silence. Overall, it was sort of awkward. Adrien wondered if she should have asked marinette to get coffee. While he knew she was comfortable with Chat Noir, she always seemed to make her nervous. She was a fan of his modeling, after all, so it made sense to a certain degree. But Marinette was the first real friend she made, besides for Nino. He wanted her to feel comfortable around him.

Meanwhile, Marinette was internally freaking out. She was on a coffee date with Adrien, of course she was freaking out. Not only that, but she learned he didn’t like energy drinks. Marinette didn’t like them either, honestly, so she was sort of glad. But if he ever decided he did, shed be more than willing to start drinking them, even if they tasted like sugar and chemicals.

The two continued to walk, mustering the will to start a conversation. Marinette held her arms, taking a deep breath while mentally preparing herself to speak, while Adrien glanced to the oppisite side, thinking of something to say. Eventually they both turned to eachother, speaking simoltaneously.

“So I- no you go!”

“I insist.” marinette pushed, giving him the metaphorical conversational baton. He put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m really glad to have you as one of my fans, Marinette, but you don’t have to be so nervous around me.” She looked away from him, and in a panic, word vomited without knowing where she as going with anything.

“What? Me, nervous? Why would I be Nervous of you- I mean, around you?” He looked at her doubtfully, but looked away and smiled. Maybe bringing it up was a bad idea.

“Sorry, maybe I read the situation wrong.” She turned to him, flailing her arms back in fowarth.

“No no! Of course not, how could you be wrong?” He lifted a brow.

“So… You are nervous around me?”

“No! I mean, yes? I mean! Maybe a little...” She sighed. Her head fell a bit as she looked at the pavement in front of her. She couldn’t look him in the eye. She didn’t want him to feel bad just because she couldn’t think straight.

Speaking of thinking straight… This felt a little weird. She was excited because, well, she was going on a coffee (friend) date with her crush. But she was also dating Alya, or Ladybug was dating Rena Rouge, anyway? Or not quite dating, but going on a few dates to see if they wanted to date. Was that dating? Or is it not dating until you’re officially a couple? She assumed it was all fine since she wasn’t dating someone, but… She did like someone else. Should she talk with her about it?

And then she realized that she couldn’t tell her she liked Adrien, because it would give her too much information about her identity. Why did she even start going on dates with Alya in the first place if she liked Adrien to begin with? To see, to give her best friend a chance, she supposed. And while they felt more like friends hanging out, she did regularly go on ice skating “dates” with luka. She always felt that it was more a bunch of friends going skating, but did Luka think it was something more? No, he knew she liked Adrien, and he respected that. But what if he thoughts things have changed since he’s dating Kagami? There was no way she could tell Luka she was dating alya, though, because Marinette isn’t dating her, Ladybug is dating Rena. And what about the fact that she liked her friend’s boyfriend? Was she cheating?

So many thoughts left her feeling winded and light headed. Was she a big cheater? No, impossible! How could she be cheating when she had never even had one significant other? Suddenly her situation felt so complicated. She felt like she messed something up, but she wasn’t sure what to do.

“Marinette? Are you alright?” She was snapped out of her daze by Adrien. She hadn’t noticed that the two had stopped walking. She stammered a bit before flashing him a stressed smile.

“Yeah. Sorry about that! Can you remind me what we’re talking about?” She said.

“Nevermind that. What’s more important is that we’re here.” She looked up to see a cute coffee shop near the school. Suddenly seeing him there, her heart fluttered. It still felt a bit weird now, but right now she was happy.

They walked in, Adrien opening the door for her to walk in first. She followed behind him, waiting for him to close the door again so they could walk to the counter again.

“What would you like?” He asked. Marinette looked at the menu, considering her options before realizing his intent.

“Oh! No, you don’t have to pay for me! Really.”

“Please, I insist! I invited you out, after all. Besides, I’m glad to do this for a friend.” Marinette felt as though she were shot back to reality. It wasn’t a date, she remembered. He was dating Kagami.

“If you really want to, I’ll just have a small coffee, black.” He seemed surprised.

“Really? Coffee’s pretty bitter without cream and sugar.” Marinette chuckled.

“I feel like you can really taste the subtle differences in flavor and aroma better without it. It’s part of the experience of it, you know?” He looked at the menu, suddenly feeling self conscious about his order. He put his hand in his pocket, taking out his wallet.

“Hi, can we get two large coffees, and one large cafe mocha with whipped cream and an extra pump of chocolate syrup, please. Oh! And I’ll take a monster from the fridge over there, please.” The lady behind the counter nodded.

“Would you like those coffee’s with milk or sugar?”

“Can you put a few sugar packets in a bag to go?”

“Sure. Anything else?” Adrien looked at Marinette, who’d been eyeing the pastry shelf. She’d silently been critiquing the baker, a habit she’d picked up from her parents. She looked to her side to see Adrien and the associate staring. She hadn’t heard the full conversation.

“And a chocolate croissant, please. To go.” She nodded, and as he counted out his change, she couldn’t help but fawn over what a gentleman he’d been, how good he was at ordering, how he took the time to count out his change. Not to mention how cute it was that he liked his coffee really sweet. She was caught leaning on the counter, chin resting on her hand as she starred at him.

She immediately lifted herself up into a better posture as her cheeks flushed pink. She laughed nonchalauntly, brushing it off.

“For you.” He said, handing her a medium coffee and a Chocolate croissant. She didn’t have the heart to tell him she had just been thinking about how they were overdone, and probably more fall apart flakey than soft and layered. Still, she smiled and took the bag.

“I-Thank you! She said. He took his coffee in hand, and put the two others in a drink carrier.

Adrien held the door open for her, and she thanked him as she walked out. He took a sip of his drink, sticking his tongue out.

“Too hot?” Marinette asked. He nodded, looking at his cup.

“Yeah…” He tried to resist taking another sip, he really did. But after another twenty seconds, he took another sip and burned his tongue again. “Ow!”

“Hey, Adrien? I can hold your drink for a bit, or I mean, we can hold each others! So we don’t burn our tongues! You know?... Is that weird?” Adrien offered her his cup, and she offered hers to him. They exchanged coffee’s while continuing their way back to the school.

It was a nice day out, they almost didn’t want to head back. They ran into a couple acquaintances of Marinette’s, and stopped for brief chats a couple times. Other than that, there wasn’t much talking. She was too nervous to speak with him, and Adrien? Well, he seemed to be thinking about something else.

“Marinette?” He asked, as they turned a corner. “I was serious when I said you don’t have to be so nervous around me. You’re really cool. You’re an amazing designer, you’re the president of our class, you seem to know everyone in Paris-including Jagged stone, who you designed for… The point is, there’s no reason to be so nervous when you’re so much more of an amazing person yourself.” Marinette felt the blood rush to her head as he talked. That was all just stuff she did, none of it was particularly amazing (Save knowing Jagged Stone). But hearing it come out of his mouth sounded like adoration.

“What? No- I!” It took her about two seconds to spill the coffee she was holding onto the sidewalk. It was a big creamy mess. She looked up slowly at Adrien, who seemed to find some amusement in the whole situation. But Marinette did not.

“I’m so sorry! I’ll go buy you another one-” Adrien grabbed her shoulder before she could run off.

“It’s okay, Marinette, really. I don’t need it.”

“Well… We can at least share mine? I’m not supposed to drink a lot of caffeine anyway.”

“Sounds good to me.” He went to take a sip, realizing that her coffee was also still too hot for him to drink. She laughed slightly, taking the coffee when he passed it to her. She took a sip, humming at the warmth.

“It’s a little hot, but it shouldn’t burn your tongue anymore.” They continued chatting. After walking around and getting a coffee, she had more of a kick in her step, and she didn’t sound quite as tired. Sure, there were still dark circles under her eyes, and he knew she was probably still tired. But hopefully this made things a bit easier for her.

They walked back into the school. Marinette waved to Luka, while Chloe Seemed furious seeing them together. They walked back up the stairs and entered the classroom, immediately meeting the eyes of Nino and Alya. Alya made grabbing hands at Adrien, wanting her coffee.

“Ooh, gimme! How much was it?” He waved her off.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s my treat. Here!” He tossed Nino the Monster, and he went absolutely wild.

“Yo, sweet man! Thanks!” He opened and practically chugged it, wiping his mouth with his arm. Alya sipped her coffee, noting Marinette.

“Where’s your coffee, girl? Don’t tell me you didn’t get one?” Marinette sat in her chair.

“N-no! What are you coff-coff-talking about? I- uh- just finished it already!” She took out her notebook and started writing furiously. Maybe she was still busy and stressed, but Adrien managed to give her a break. That itself was a job well done.


	8. Chapter 8

Alya walked along the riverside, trying too hard to act natural. She whistled to herself, putting one foot in front of the other and hoping for the best. With her luck, however, she was stopped by the towns most notorious red headed cop.

“What are you doing?” He asked, getting out of his car and slamming the door. Alya laughed, attempting to feign innocence.

“What, me? Oh, just going for a walk, sir! You know, enjoying the fresh air?” He glared at her, eyes slimmed as though examining her thoroughly. After a few moments, he smiled and crossed his arms.

“Well alright! Just watch your way as you go under the bridge, we’ve had some shady activity there recently. And don’t walk too close to the water, you might fall in!” She smiled, giving him a thumbs up.

“You’ve got it, sir! I’ll be extra careful.” He gave a thumbs up back and turned around. It was nice to hear that kids still liked going outside, the streets had been getting quieter in recent years. In fact, when was the last time he had went on a walk for fun? Meanwhile, Alya quickened her steps, jogging to get under the bridge. There was some pretty neat graffiti there, and some empty beer cans, but no sign of Ladybug. She slipped her phone from her pocket, checking the time. She was a few minutes early, perhaps she should wait.

She leaned against the wall, looking at the various tags of artists both from and outside of Paris. She kind of liked the look of graffiti, honestly. Not as much as Nino did, but it was better than a blank wall. Her eyes darted from tag to tag, her eyes lingering on whatever she found interesting. But she got distracted by something moving in the water. It was... a hand? She screamed, pressing her back into the wall as far as she could. The hand grabbed onto the ledge, and Alya was paralyzed from fear.

“Ladybug!” She called, when out of the water rose her hero. She greeted her with a smile.

“Oh, did I scare you? I’m sorry!” Alta put a hand to her chest, breathing a sigh of relief.

“That was probably the most traumatic experience of my life, thanks.” She noticed that ladybug looked different. Her hair had grown much longer, and the ends were tinged purple. Even her supersuit had scales on it now. Alya recognized this form.

“This is your water Form!” She exclaimed. “I have GOT to get a picture for the Ladyblog!” She whipped out her phone, ready to snap a shot when Ladybug used her hand to block the phone.

“No pictures on these, remember?” Alya locked her phone, sighing.

“Right I forgot... but does this mean-“ ladybug presented both her miraculous box and a blue macaroon. 

“Your screaming was bound to attract some attention. Hurry, and be sure to feed this to Trix before you transform!” She dipped under the water, leaving Alya to follow. 

“You know, I didn’t expect macaroons to be the secret to these powers.” She said, passing Trix her desert. Once she was finished eating, they went through the transformation sequence and dived in the water just before people arrived to check out the scene.

She could see crystal clear in the water, her webbed feet giving her more of a thrust than she was used to underwater. Most importantly, she could breath. This was probably one of the coolest things she had ever done.

“Took you long enough.” Ladybug said jokingly. Her arms were crossed, and she was waiting near the bottom of the river. Rena swam down, orienting herself upwards when they were finally next to each other.

“This is so cool!” Rena Said, looking around. Ladybug nodded.

“I thought you’d think so. You can see all sorts of things people have dropped of the bridge here, too! Like... this.” She Scanned the floor, eventually sporting what she was looking for. It was a key.

“Like this, see? Although there’s a lot of garbage here.” Rena noticed that she was right, the entire area was littered with trash. It was disappointing, honestly. Their beautiful city that ladybug and cat noir spent so long trying to protect was being so disrespected. She felt like she needed to do something.

“Let’s pick It up, then!” She said. Ladybug blinked a few times.

“Are you sure? I had a plan for our day already.” Rena grabbed ladybug’s hands, looking her in the eye.

“Please, Ladybug? We can’t just swim by all of this!” Ladybug looked around, taking everything in. It was much for two people, but she supposed she could manage. After speaking with a local and narrowing two nets, they got to work. They spent hours picking up crushed cans, algae covered blasting bottles and glass shards from the bottom of the river. When they’re nets we’re getting full, they would head back to the bridge and dump the trash there. They’d need a pretty big bag after that to carry it all.

After spending a few hours they had gotten one stretch of the river cleaned up. Ladybug had her hands placed triumphantly on her hips.“To be honest with you, I didn’t expect us to get nearly this far.” She had felt pretty accomplished overall. Rena didn’t feel the way.

“It’s been hours, and there’s still so much left to do!” She gazed downstream at all of the trash left littered on the ground. Ladybug put a hand on her shoulder assuringly.

“Even with superpowers, we’re only two people. It’ll take more than a day to do everything.” Rena hesitated, get head hung low. Sometimes it felt like all she needed were her super powers to do anything. She had to remember that they weren’t going to fix everything.

“You’re right, Ladybug. I won’t give up! I’m going to talk to my classmates about organizing a day to help clean up the river at some point.”

“That sounds great. Now what do you say we take out the trash and go get something to eat?” Ladybug had already prepared them a lunch, obviously. With bread from her parent’s own bakery, she bad some ham and Swiss sandwiches on baguettes in a cooler on top of one of the taller buildings, along with some water and a bag of chips. It wasn’t amazingly fancy, but it was cute none-the-less.

She went ahead and unfolded the picnic blanket, taking a packaged sandwich and handing it to Rena. After taking out the Water and her own sandwich, she closed the cooler and wiped the condensation on her hands onto the blanket. Ladybug sat with her legs splayed to one side, while Rena sat cross legged across from her.

“Sorry, im not much of a Cook.” Ladybug admitted. Rena laughed.

“Neither am I! It’s all good.” She bit into the sandwich with a crunch, more than enjoying herself. Overall, it was the perfect evening.

Ladybug brought Rena back under the bridge after date to detransform and return the Miraculous. They tried to stay hushed, since they didn’t want to get caught.“Have a nice evening, Alya.” Ladybug said.

Alya, passing over the necklace, seemed hesitant.“Will I... see you again?” She asked. Ladybug realized that she never really addressed if the were having a second date. She should’ve thought about it earlier, but now she was stuck making an on the spot decision.

“I-uh- need some time to think! I’ll visit you in a few days about it, alright?” She said, turning around and yoyoing away. Alya has reached out for her, hoping to get a more satisfying answer. Being left on the edge of her seat didn’t feel good at all. But she supposed that it was only fair. She hugged herself close, heading home to call Nino and do homework together.... and then she yoyoed back.

“There’s an akuma!” 

“I’m ready to fight if you’ll let me, Ladybug.” Ladybug shook her head. She passed her the Miraculous, sandwiching it between Alya’s hands.

“But Trix isn’t. Watch out!” Ladybug scooped up Alya and jumped out of the way just the bridge came crumbling down. Pieces shattered, littering the river they had just spent so much time cleaning up. Putting Alya down, she turned to the villian: A huge dragon! The both shielded their eyes as the bright red scales shined brightly in the afternoon sun.

“Go, hurry!” Ladybug said, jumping into the water and colleging the citizens who had fallen off the bridge from being scooped up with its jaws. Alya put the necklace around her neck. Her kwami appeared looking tired, but smiling.

“What’s wrong, Trix?” She asked, letting her sit in her hands. Trix rested her head on her fingertips, laying in her palm.

“I need something to eat.” She said. Alya jumped to the left, dodging a car that had just been thrown. She started running into the city, looking for a place to hide.

“What do you mean your hungry! At a time like this?”

“We kwami’s often need to eat after we transform.” Her eyes taught sight of the icecream man, André, who was looking in the direction of the noise. She ran into his cart, hands stopping on the side and causing it to shake around. He put his hands on either side, keeping it in place.

She kept her head down from a moment, catching her breath. André peered around his cart to the side where she was standing.

“Are you alright?” He asked. After another few moments, here head shot up.

“Icecream... Please.”

He handed her an icecream, but before she could get out the money to pay, the dragon flew above the rooftops! André saw this and immediately wheeled his cart away, leaving Alya behind holding the change she was sorting through in one hand and her icecream in the other. She ran back towards where the dragon was hovering, hoping that everyone had fled.

They had already been here. She saw flipped over cars, chipped big pieces from buildings, and just generally left chaos in its wake. She heard police in the distance, presumably attempting to help citizens somewhere nearby. Meanwhile, she dropped off Trix behind one of the cars.

“I hope icecream works? I know it’s not really a meal or anything.” She asked. The kwami knodded, taking the cone in her tiny hands. At that point, the dragon flew above them, and she saw Ladybug and Chat Noir tailing behind closely.

“Chat Noir! Ladybug! Help me!” Alya whipped her head towards the sound, trying to figure out where it had come from. She ran down the street, arms pumping, eyes darting around. As Rena, she realized that not only was she faster, but it was easier to pinpoint where people were through her heightened hearing, sight and reflexes. Luckily, she still had some killer instincts.

She looked from car to car, eventually spotting what she swore were a pair of legs underneath a pile of rubble. She ran to their side, calling for questions.

“Woah, are you okay!? Can you breath!” She got close, not knowing how much she could hear. She saw the legs start kicking and listened.

“I can breath, but it hurts. Please, help me!” She didn’t want to wait for her Kwami. Immediately she started pulling off piece after piece of rubble, struggling to move bigger pieces on her own. She knew she couldn’t do it on her own.

“Ma'am, are you still there? Ma'am!?” She noticed the legs had stopped moving

“Don’t run the same direction as me!” Chloe’s voice rang loud and clear as Alya whipped her head over. She rounded the corner with Lila, who was running next to her.

Alya jumped in front of them, holding her arms out in an attempt to halt them for a bit.

“What do you want? I’m trying to run away here!” Chloe asked Alya motioned to the rubble pile.

“There’s- there’s someone stuck under here! I need some help. I’m so glad your here, Lila, I could really use your skills-” Lila heard the dragon roar and pushed her to the side.

“Out of my way!!” Alya caught her balance and watched her run off. She knew it was understandable, but it was also frustrating. She knew Lila would be perfect, seeing as she once saved a whole village of kids from a collapsing building. In fact, she had a lot of useful skills she could’ve used from various stories she had told. But she also knew she struggled a lot with her mental health. She had to let it go, and just understand that while Lila was amazing, she couldn’t expect her to be on her top game all the time/

Meanwhile, Chloe stood with her arms crossed. Alya went back to the pile, haphazardly throwing rocks back behind her. She didn’t have time for this.

“What are you waiting around for? Get lost.” But she waas surprised to see that Chloe crouched beside her, keeping her knees off the ground as not to get her outfit dirty. She caught Alya’s surprised expression with a quick glance.

“I’m Queen Bee, remember? If I didn’t help, Ladybug would never give me my Miraculous back.” Alya smiled briefly. Now that everyone knew her identity, she would probably never be queen bee again, and surprisingly, Alya was pretty sure that she understood that already. Going harder, she kept going at it.

Her hands felt numb, and her arms were covered in dust. She heaved larger rocks off, practically rolling some off the pile. She was sore, and wondered if Trix was done eating. Either way, she couldn’t transform at this point, since Chloe was here.

Eventually, Alya saw an arm. She managed to uncover the hand, immediately flipping it over. Pressing her fingers to the lady’s wrist, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“She’s alive!” She hadn’t noticed when Chloe’s fave became so determined, but she saw her eyes light up. There was hope. They quickened their pace, trying to make a hole roughly where she figured the head would be. They finally began to uncover her, piece by piece. Her head came first, then her torso. After that, Alya put an arm around her shoulder and hauled her out. She was still unconscious.

Alya noticed Trix wave to her across the street, peeking out from behind a streetlamp. Still holding the lady across her shoulders, she looked at Chloe, who was brushing herself off, obviously discussed by the amount of dirt caked on her shoes and her arms. They made eye contact, and Alya moved towards her.

“I need you to take her to the hospital further outside of town.” 

“Why do I have to do it?”

“Because were going different ways.” She looked into town, where cat Noir and ladybug were fighting the beast. Chloe looked at her in disbelief, but took hold of the woman. It was hard to carry her, she was definitely an adult. But somehow she managed.

“It’s your death wish.” She said, turning around. Alya ran down the street, turning a corner and finding an abandoned ally. She was right to see that Trix had followed her.

“That was a noble thing you did.” Trix said. Alya nodded.

“Just doing my part. Trix, let’s pounce!”

——

“Lucky charm!” Throwing up her Charm (a treasure chest?), a flash of ladybugs went by to repair all of the damage to the city. Anyone who was hurt should be feeling better now. She was glad for the reassurance. But right now, there was a girl who was falling from the sky! Ladybug yoyoed herself to the target and caught her in one swoop. Across the street she landed, feet flat and the girl safe and sound.

“Where am I?” Setting down the young girl she’d caught on the ground, Ladybug bent over, and spoke to her assuringly.

“You were akumatized by Hawkmoth, but everything’s okay now. Do you need any help getting home?” The girl shook her head, standing up and brushing herself off. She seemed shaken by this news, but gave a small wave and ran off. Sometimes, she never got to know what the problems of these victims were. She supposed it wasn’t her business to know, as long as the problem wasn’t reoccurring. 

Rena jogged up to Ladybug, who was soon joined by Chat Noir for their traditional “Pound it!”. She turned to Rena, though, and her expression turned to one of disappointment.

“Why didn’t you come when I asked you to?” She asked. “We were counting on you to be there, what happened?” Rena grimaced. She didn’t think talking down to someone she had just been on a date with left a very good impression.

“Trix had to eat, and there was a civilian buried under rubble that I had to help.” Ladybug crossed her arms.

“The lucky charm fixes all damages that are caused, she would have been fine. We needed you to help defeat Dragon-born!” 

“She wasn’t moving anymore, she was in pain. I wasn’t just going to leave her!” Chat Noir put a hand on Rena’s shoulder, and Marinette looked up to meet his eyes.

“M’lady, she’s right. You aren’t really suggesting she should have just left someone who needed help?” Ladybug looked between the two of them, eventually sighing in defeat.

“No no, you’re right. I just… I don’t know what came over me, I’m sorry.” Ladybug ran her hand along her opposite arm, feeling more than embarrassed and confused. She wasn’t honestly sure herself where that came from- Of course Rena should have saved the civilian! Her and Chat Noir did fine on their own. But when Rena didn’t show up for her, she had gotten really frustrated. She felt like she had been let down, almost? And even though Rena did something to be proud of, Ladybug still felt uneasy.

“Gotta run, can’t let the cat out of the bag this late into the game, huh? See-ya, bug-a-boo!” He waved, running off in his own direction. That left Rena and Ladybug in the street.

“Are you alright, Ladybug?” Rena asked.

“Yeah! Of course. Sorry.” Rena reached up, taking a hand and putting it assuringly on her shoulder as Chat had just done for her.

“Hey, it’s alright! As long as you’re okay! Now, where can we find a spot…” Ladybug threw her thumb back behind her between two of the buildings, where they ran to before people started feeling safe enough to walk the streets again. Rena unclipped her necklace and set the charm in Ladybugs palm. She clasped her hand around it, making note to take it to Master Fu before dinner.

“I’ve gotta run, see you!” Alya tried to reach out and ask when the next time the would meet was, but she was already out of site. She couldn’t help but grin. That was Ladybug for you, always busy and on the go.

Part 8.5

“Ready to go?” He asked her. Marinette wrapped her arms around luka’s waist, sitting on the back of his bike.

“Ready!” He kicked off, pedaling through the city. It was a nice Saturday afternoon, and weekend ice skating was the plan for that afternoon. They pedaled away from the bakery, passed multiple shops and stopped at a little bagel shop for breakfast. Marinette was used the letting Luka order at this point.

He turned around with her bagel, a sesame bagel with cream cheese and ham, while he got a pumpkin bagel with strawberry jam. He handed her the bag, kicking up the little bar holding up the bike and swung his leg across. As soon as Marinette was ready, they were off.

They stopped at a park that was a bit closer to the ice skating rink to eat their food. He parked his bike near the bench they would sit on. They ate their food, chatting about generic topics like the weather, how was your week, all the like. Luka was more quiet, letting Marinette carry conversation… Normally.

… But She seemed tired, so he spoke up a bit more. He told stories of things that had happened throughout the week. She heard a tidbit about a fight at lunch, about him narrowly losing his homework to a paper shredder, and a few instances as funny jokes his classmates had made. And, of course, she heard a lot about his music. Marinette was glad he could be so perceptive. He didn’t ask her what was wrong, he just knew she was tired and tried to help by alleviating some of that pressure.

She leaned back, putting her hand on the seat and looking at her feet, tapping the dirt with the heels of her shoes. She dragged her fingers along the wood, trying to hear what he was saying while distracted with… everything else. She wanted to keep up her social obligations, so she worked through most of the night on the homework she had gotten behind on. She got a couple hours of sleep, though.

And she was also thinking a lot about Alya. It had been some time, a couple weeks, and they had gone on a few dates already, and things were going well. They had started getting creative with their dates using Alya’s illusions to buy icecream and run off in five minutes, giggling when they got red and orange scoops. They had also used their illusion to get onto a ferris wheel, which was rather cute. They couldn’t do a lot of stuff in public, but they did what they could that was under five minutes.

But they still weren’t really dating. At least, not officially. Marinette wondered if she wanted to date Alya. She was having fun, sure, but making things official? That… Should she? She was still going on double dates- as friends- with Luka, and she definitely had feelings for Adrien. But she was so comfortable with Alya. It was something she had never really felt before. It was like being with Adrien, but instead of making her feel self conscious and panicky, she was confident around Alya.

“Ready to go, Marinette?” Luka had already been standing in front of her, holding a hand out in a way that reminded her so much of the first day they had all gone skating together. She grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. No hesitation. 

“Thanks, Luka.” They got back on the bike, heading directly to the meeting point in front of the rink. Adrien and Kagami.

The two were being incredibly cute. They were holding hands and chatting, both with their ice skates in hand. Marinette had only just bought hers when they started going more frequently, but she knew they were both much better at it than she was. Kagami noticed them first, and smiled.

“Marinette, Luka! How was your week?” She asked. Marinette smiled and approached, hands clasped together in front of her. 

“It was fine! How about you?”

“It was successful, I’d say, although… I did get… An A- on my quiz!” Her and Adrien started laughing together. Marinette and Luka didn’t quite understand, but they each attempted a smile or a chuckle anyway.

They walked into the roller skating rink. Luka had walked ahead a few paces, and was chatting with Adrien, While Kagami was holding hands on the other side of Adrien. Marinette walked a couple paces behind, partially because there wasn’t enough room for them all to walk in a row, and partially because it just felt awkward. 

Kagami looked back at Marinette and said something quietly to Adrien. He gave her a nod, bringing up her hand to his lips and giving her a soft kiss. Marinette felt a stab of pain as Kagami went back to join her.

Marinette walked stiffly, while Kagami held her head high.

“Is everything alright, Marinette?” She asked. Marinette traced her finger along the clip of her bag.

“Of course it’s fine! I’m just, uh, excited about skating! Like, really excited.” Luka and Adrien sat down after showing them their seasonal ticket, while Marinette and Kagami got out their tickets. Marinette kept hers behind her phone case, and when she popped her case off to grab it, it fluttered to the floor. Before she could pick it up, another boy around her age picked it up for her. She didn’t recognize him, but she assumed he was around her grade.

“You dropped this.” He said. He had his chin high, chest puffed out in a cocky stance. Marinette took the pen back.

“Thank you!” And as soon as she felt the interaction was over, she turned her attention to her friends again. This didn’t seem to sit well with the boy.

“Would you like to go skate with me? I can help you up when you fall, sweetheart.” Marinette (As well as everyone else) had an icky taste in their mouth when he called her sweetheart. She sat down and began lacing her ice skates and hoping to quickly remove herself from the situation.

“I’m here with my friends already, sorry.” He seemed to persist, going as far as to grab her arm and pull her up when she was finished lacing her shoes.

“C’mon, they’ll understand-” Adrien was watching the situation, worried, but unmoving. Meanwhile, Luka was to find some way to deescalate the situation. That’s when Kagami stepped in. She grabbed Marinette’s arm and tugged her away.

“She’s here with us, Scram.” The dude looked from Marinette to Kagami and back. It looked like he had come to some realization, and disgusted, promptly scrammed. Meanwhile, Luka stepped up and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you comfortable staying here, Marinette?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. That was just kind of uncomfortable.”

“He insulted your skating, too, without even seeing it?” Adrien added. Kagami nodded

“Sometimes that happens with guys. It’s nothing out of the ordinary.” Adrian and Luka looked at each other awkwardly. Their group felt tense for a few moments before Kagami pulled Marinette onto the ice. Normally, Kagami and Adrien paired up, same with Luka and Marinette. They wouldn’t exactly interact much on the ice. But Kagami had Marinette’s hand the whole time.

“Neither of those boys stood up for you.” She said, once they were out of earshot. The music the rink was playing that day was helping to drown out the sound, for sure. Now that the rink had more guests thanks to a certain model’s recommendation, it was pretty busy now, too.

“Huh? Oh, you mean back there? It’s alright, I can’t expect them to step in, especially when it really wasn’t that bad.” Kagami cut it, giving Marinette a side eye. Marinete wasn’t used to the pace, and her ankles felt the strain of her uneven stance. Kagami pulled her along, acting as something to help her balance.

“Should they have waited until the situation escalated? Isn’t stepping in what a good friend does?” Marinette fumbled over her feet, and Kagami took strong hand to life her. They slowed down a little bit while Marinette regained her footing and was able to kick off again.

“Is the person you care about the most someone who would do that for you?” Kagami skated away after saying something that felt very out of the blue. She continued skating on her own, while she saw that Kagami had found the two boys.

What she said had felt very out of the blue, anyway. But it still made her think. Who would do that for her?

And in her head, Alya was the first face to pop up. Alya had always stood up for her, since the day they first met. Be it against Chloe, Lila, or anyone else, her friend had her back. And after a lot of thinking, she reaffirmed to herself that asking Alya- Rena- out properly was the best thing to do.


	9. Chapter 9

Ladybug took Rena’s hand, and she brought her head up. Ladybug smiled, taking her arm and snaking it around the other girls waist. 

“Can you hold on?” She asked her. Rena confirmed with a head nod and wrapped her arms around Ladybugs neck. She swung her yo-yo, latching it onto the Eifel tower and making a jump for it. They swung around and up the tower, catching a few confused glances before they disappeared at the top.

“What’s all this about?” Rena asked, a cocky grin on her face. Ladybug put her down, taking her hand and carefully walking to a ledge. She sat down, dangling her legs and motioning for Rena to do the same.

Once Rena had settled down next to her, the two sat in silence for a bit. 

“Don’t you think this is a bit too visible of a spot?” Rena asked, tucking her hair behind her ear as the cold night wind blew against her cheeks. Ladybug shook her head.

“You’d need a cats eye to see us, and Chat isn’t on Patrol tonight. We’re golden.” She pulled Rena into a hug. One of her hands rested under where her hair fell while the other rested on the small of her back. Rena wrapped her arms around Ladybugs neck, snuggling into her shoulder. They stayed like that, locked into eachother. 

“This has been one of the best things to ever happen to me.” Ladybug’s voice was quiet, ringing clearly over the sounds of cars below. Rena started tearing up, blinking in an attempt to keep herself from crying. This was it, she realized. Ladybug had something big to tell her.

Ladybug Continued. “I know we don’t get to spend much time together, but I really enjoy what time we do get to be together. I kept you waiting for a long time, but I want you to be my girlfriend. Would you?”

She pulled away. Tears fell down her cheeks, and Ladybug looked shocked and concerned. But there was a wide smile on Rena’s face.

“Of course!” Her head fell onto Ladybugs shoulder, and Ladybug gently put her arm on the hero’s back, moving it back and forth in a soothing motion.

“So this is the guy you like?” The two girls turned around to see everyone’s favorite feline superhero standing behind them. His expression looked surprised. More than that, he looked disappointed.

“Chat Noir!” Ladybug stood up, wanting to reach out and explain. Chat took a few steps forward.

“Were you ever planning on telling me? Did you think I wouldn’t take it well?” Ladybug was baffled, and her new Girlfriend didn’t know what to say. They both felt awful.

“I’m sorry Chat, I couldn’t tell you. Besides, this is all pretty knew to me.” Chat hung his head and the two girls shared a glance. Never before had Paris felt so quiet.

“Well, you don’t have to worry, m’lady! I don’t mind that your gay.”

“... huh?”

“It all makes sense now. There’s no other way you could possibly resist my irresistible good looks. But don’t worry, I’ll always support you 100% m’lady!“ ladybug smiled. He didn’t quite get it, but she was happy none the less. He had taken it much better then she expected, and if he was happy, she was fine with this result.

She walked up to him, taking his hands on hers. Lifting up onto her tiptoes, she pressed her lips to his cheek. He stared baffled as she stepped back.

“Thank you.” She said, looking him in the eyes. The scene reminded him too much of a moment he had had with a close friend of his, and his heart fluttered.

“Of course. Now, I’ve gotta scat! You two have a nice time now, and don’t stay out too late, Kay~?” Before anyone could say another word, he fell backwards off the tower, extending his baton to the ground before heading off into the night. Rena had gotten up, and joined her girlfriend in watching him hop away.

Meanwhile, in Adrien’s room, Chat Noir had detransformed. Plague whooshed into the room, falling onto the bed.

“I’m huuuungry.” He dramatized the moment in hopes of getting some Camembert. Adrien remained quiet. After a few seconds, the whining persisted. “Adrieeeeeen”

“I know you know where I keep it, get it yourself.” Plague flew into the shelf with a sigh, grabbing his cheese, and floating in front of the boy’s face.

“What’s the big deal? I thought you were happy for Ladybug!” He said, eating the whole piece in one go. Adrien laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

“I am happy for her, Plague, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy in general. Now Ladybug will never like me.” He turned over, locking his eyes on his closet. He should change before going to bed, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to get up or do anything but sulk. 

After months of trying again and again, setting up romantic spots and holding out hope, he realized that there was nothing he could do. She would never, ever like him... but at least he had closure. And there was no longer anything holding him back from asking out Kagami. Unless she turned out to be gay, too. Wouldn’t that be his luck?

He was bitter, but he needed to recognize and respect her feelings. Maybe this was why she never told him? Cause she knew that he couldn’t handle rejection? That he’d throw another tantrum? He realized in those moments just how childish he had been. Even if she did like guys, she could see now why she could, and should, never fall for a jerk him.

But no more! He was going to support Ladybug, and he was going to do it right. Closing his eyes, he stared up at the ceiling. Could he keep calling her his lady? No no, it wasn’t his lady, it was M’lady, which while they might technically be saying the same thing, are two totally different things. He was calling her that before he fell in love.

He fell asleep in his jeans and T-shirt without even brushing his teeth.


	10. Chapter 10

“I brought you a coffee, Black, just like you like it.” Marinette took a sip of her drink.

“I actually prefer mine with cream and sugar.” She said, keeping a cool and collected demeaned while Chat seemed surprised. The smirk of her face gave it away.

“Are you lying?” He asked her smuggly. She laughed, placing her cup on her desk and stretching her arms out in front of her, her fingers laced together.

“Maybe. What gave it away?”

“The cute grin on your face, maybe~?”

“Not that, I meant the coffee. How did you know I take it black?” He froze, tail even freezing in place for a moment as he realized his mistake. Adrien knee because he had went with her to grab coffee, but Chat Noir shouldn’t have known that. He continued cooly after a moment of quick thinking.

“Just a cat’s intuition.” He leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed. He was very obviously trying to impress her, and she was just surprised he wasn’t flirting with her. Maybe he really was hung up on ladybug. 

He walked over to her desk, leaning over her as she sat in her chair. She turned around to face her work finally, and he pointed to various problems at points along the pages. He caught her up to speed with her math, although it was his “worst” subject. Next, Chat Noir explained to her a summary of their reading, but she really needed to read it through on her own.

But he didn’t leave. Rather than that, he sat on the floor next to her. He twirled his thumbs, and eventually asked if Marinette had playing cards. He started a game of solitär.

“You like solitäre? Really?”

“It’s an easy game to play without any friends.” She had asked her question off hand, preoccupied with her work, but that brought her into focus of the conversation. She didn’t say anything, but she felt awful for poking fun at him. She tried to continue through, but she couldn’t get her mind off of feeling bad.

Eventually, Chat noticed her tapping her pencil against the desk, and how she had drawn herself inward. These were clear signs of frustration. He stood up, leaning down to touch his toes, stretching out his shoulders, and so on. Marinette paid him no mind until she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. She jumped a bit, turning her head around.

“Chat Noir?” He lifted his hands off her shoulders, keeping them in the air.

“Sorry! I just wanted to say that I think you should quit for tonight. You seem really tired.”

“Of course not! What gave you that idea?”

“It’s obvious. Come on, put your books away.”

“But if I go to bed now, I’ll just feel like I left everything unfinished! And I won’t be able to sleep knowing I did a half done job, and so I might as well stay up anyway, you know?” Her head fell onto the desk. She crossed her arms over any still visible part of her face and groaned. Chat lowered himself to her desk, sitting on his ankles to look up at her face.

“How about a bed time story, princess?” Marinette lifted her head and turned to look at Chat. She wanted to say it was silly, and kind of childish, but… It did sound nice. Without a word, she nodded and started putting her books away. It felt really wrong. She hadn’t studied nearly enough to feel confident, and she hadn’t worked on the adjustment for the new costumes the members of kitty-section all asked for. Not to mention that she needed to message Jagged Stone back about his invitation to his next concert, and she still needed to check her calendar to see if she was free this weekend to go visit her Grandfather for a grandfather granddaughter baking date her parents asked her about earlier that day. Everything felt complicated.

But Chat had stood now, literally standing by her side. And she knew he wouldn’t stand for her staying up any longer. So, she set her alarm a little early and plugged her phone into her outlet. Meanwhile, she headed over to her closet.

“I should probably change into my pjs first. Do you mind turning around?” He did as instructed, letting her dress herself. Again, nothing unusual for him. He was used to working solo, but he was sure some shoots probably had shared dressing rooms.

Once she was changed, she tapped him on the shoulder and climbed into her bed. Chat followed her, sitting on the edge of it with his feet dangling. He hadn’t really thought this part through, but a little bit of improv is good for the soul.

“Ready?” He asked her. 

“Yeah, sure.” She responded.

“Once upon a time, there was a princess. And her name was… Marinette!”

“So original! Where did you get that one from?”

“Inspiration from a friend, and totally not stolen. Anyway, this princess lived in… A big tower! Yeah. And she wanted to get down, but she didn’t have magic flowing hair, and she wasn’t under an apple’s spell to wake up from, either-” Too soon, they both thought to themselves.

“- So what was this princess’s story? What made her the most awesome princess of in all the land?... Her eye for design! Her room in the tower was so clean and well designed that the people or town were so impressed! Everyone decided to lend a helping hand, building a latter to let her escape. They all appreciated her, and once she was free, the town took a liking to her, and she made a lot of cool new friends. The end.” His tail swished back and towarth, as it had been throughout his dialog. If he had a book in hand, this would be when he’s close it dramatically, but he wasn’t that prepared.

“What did you think?” He asked her. He didn’t get a clear response at first. Then he realized that she was asleep. He couldn’t really tuck her in, since she laid over her blankets, but he wrapped the sides around her to make a lil human burrito. The thought of that made him laugh.

He brushed aside her bangs, noticing that her hair was still in pigtails. He thought about taking them out, but he felt like he’d just end up tugging her hair. He kissed her forehead goodnight and escaped to her balcony. She had a great view from her room, he was almost jealous. Of course he had a huge set of windows in his room, but there was something about the balcony that felt freeing. Maybe it was the wind in his hair and caressing his cheeks, or maybe it was the feeling of leaning over the railing, going beyond barriers to see. His Windows felt colder.

Taking in the sight for just one more moment, he hopped from building to building until he reached his own open window.

Back in Adriens room, Chat Noir had detransformed. His Kwami came out hungry, but also surprisingly chipper.

“Ohhhh, look at you nabbing yourself two girlfriends!” He said, rushing into his favorite, smelly cabinet. Adrien dug through his things, finding his pajamas to change into. 

“No Plague, I’ve told you before that she’s just a friend. I wouldn’t cheat on Kagami.” 

“Are you two really official yet?”

“It doesn’t matter. I told her I like her, and I need to commit to that.”

“Sure, sure. But all the bread we could ever want, gone to waste...” he left Plague to sulk while he crawled into bed. It had been a long day, that was for sure. These study nights were definitely taking a toll... but it had also been good for his grades as well, and while he couldn’t list it on a resume, tutoring was still a good experience.

And that night, Paris was quiet.


	11. Chapter 11

Ladybug was pinned down by a swarm of birds. She felt suffocated, trying to breath in the mass of flying feathers while holding her hands firmly to her ears. She felt pricks from birds all over her body, pinching and prodding her suit, which luckily was enough to withstand them.

But despite everything, she felt a birds beak slip between her fingers, and one of her earnings was in the hands of the birds now. 

“Cat Noir, my earings!” She called. But hawkmoth was taking full advantage of his allergy to feathers, and was bombarding him with attack after attack!

“My Lady!” He called. He could see her feet sticking out among the birds, a pair of pink flats. She went to rush over and help, but he was pulled back by a flock.

Alya has been watching the whole affair from afar. She was told to not get involved, especially since this situation provided them with a lack of hiding spots. But when she saw her detransforming, she couldn’t stand by any longer.

“Trix, transform me!” She suited up in the open, leaving everyone trapped inside to see who she had been. She took her flute and created two illusions: one of Marinette going running away, and one hiding her. The birds flew towards her, and Rena turned to Chat Noir.

“The earnings!” With more of the birds distracted, he took his baton and extended it to hit the bird with a black earring in his mouth, pushing it towards Marinette. In her cloaking, of sorts, she took the earring back and properly retransformed.

Immediately, she summoned her lucky charm, raising her hand to catch what appeared to be a mirror.

“Can I see that? I wanna pick the feathers out of my hair.” Chat had landed close to her, leaning into the mirror. She shoved him aside, hoping to scope out a way to use it.

“I... I don’t know!”

“Ladybug, hurry! My illusion can’t last forever”

“Maybe it doesn’t have to!” She used the mirror to reflect the light nearby the flock. A few of the birds gravitated towards it, and then the rest followed with. She moved the birds as far from Mr. Pigeon as possible.

“Chat Noir, his whistle!” He used his stick to propel himself the the top of a building where he was perched. Mr. Pigeon backed up to be edge of the building, suddenly scared for his life.

“No! Pigeons, come to me! My pigeons!” He called for them, taking his whistle and blowing, but ladybug had drawn them too far to make it back to him on time. Chat Noir took the opportunity to propel it out of his hands with his baton, leaving it to fall off the edge of the building behind Mr. Pigeon, reached his hand over the ledge helplessly, watching as it fell and shattered against the ground.

“Time to de-evilize! She caught the akuma and purified it, releasing it to return from whence it came. After that, she threw her mirror into the air, returning the town back to its original state. When she was done, she hesitated to turn around. She didn’t want to face this next bit.

“Alya.” She started talking, but Alya didn’t let her finish. Instead, she detransformed, looking Ladybug in the eyes.

“I know. It’s been awesome getting to fight crime with you, Trix. Same with you, Cat Noir, Ladybug.” Her Kwami glee to her cheek to give her a hug before Alya took off the necklace. She knew she’d never see Trix again.

Ladybug took the necklace, a grim smile on her face. She averted her eyes, knowing what came next was going to hurt.

“It’s not just that. I won’t be able to give Carapace his Miraculous back either.”

“What?”

“You know his secret identity, it would be too dangerous if you got captured... I’m sorry.” Chat Noirs ears perked up curiously.

“So I cant know who anyone is, but they can?” His bitter tone cut through Ladybug like a knife. She had never told Chat Noir that they knew because she knew he’d give her that reaction. She turned to her girlfriend, only to realize she wouldn’t be recieving support right now. Her arms were crossed, and she was angry.

“And how could you involve Carapace in this? He didn’t do anything, and I’d never tell a soul who he is! Can you not trust me?”

“Or trust me, for that matter? How long have they known for? Why are they an exception?”

“Were is the better word, apparently.”

“Enough!” Ladybug threw back her fists as she leaned into them. “Chat Noir, it wasn’t a Choice I wanted to make! I needed both of them, and their wasn’t any time. And Alya, I know you understand why I need to do this. It’s for both your safety and his. Whether or not you would tell willingly, if you were akumatized by Hakwmoth, it’s the first thing he’d ask you.“ her ladybug earrings flickered, letting her know that she only had about a minute left before she turned back. Chat Noir and Alya both had very surprised expressions on their faces at her outburst.

“I wish we had more time to talk about this, but... we can’t keep seeing eachother. If hawkmoth finds out he could use you against me, and I don’t want that. Do you understand?” She realized in that moment how she had wasted the last moments they had together being angry. That she made this moment so much harder for Ladybug than it had to be. Swallowing her feelings, she gave a kurt nod.

“I guessed that bit. Thank you.” Alya took a step back, and so did Ladybug. Ladybug turned around, running in the opposite direction. Bur before she would swing away, she turned around to mouth a few words to Alya. Alta waved back in understanding. She hoped Nino would forgive her, but this was something she needed to do. Marinettes roll in defeating Hawkmoth was more important than her own... and besides that, she loved her. She couldn’t let her be exposed.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Chat Noir stepped up to her side.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Not really. But I will be.” She scuffed the ground with her foot. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I know you’re in love with Ladybug. You’ve been chasing her for so long, and I feel like... I intruded on something.” He chuckled, swinging around in front of her.

“Ladybug asked you, not the other way around. Besides, it’s her choice who she does and doesn’t love. She chose you, be proud of that.”

“Thanks, Chat. Although I guess it’s good now that she’s single, huh?”

“I would have thought about that before. I think I’ve finally moved in from her, though. It took a while, but I have to respect her choices, even if that means she likes women.”

“You know she’s Pan, right?”

“Pan? Like the cookware?”

“You should look it up later, we’re gathering a crowd.” News reporters were finally making their way to the scene, hoping that ladybug or Chat Noir were still hanging around to interview.

“Yeah, you’re right! I’ve gotta scat, see you!” Watching her old fellow hero’s jump out of sight reminded her that she wouldn’t feel that feeling again. The feeling of jumping from roof to roof, no longer held but by her very human body. Her senses would never be as sharp of they were when she was Rena Rouge. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she started dialing Nino.

“Hey, can we talk?”


	12. Chapter 12

Marinette caught sight of Nino and Alya walking through the halls. Nino caught her eye and gave Alya a nudge with his elbow. She looked up from her phone, spotting her and waved. Marinette waved back, and followed through when Alya motioned for her to come over. Alya opened her arms and gave her a hug.

“You okay, girl? You’ve been late to class before, but you usually show up eventually. Is everything alright?” Marinette had her arms tightly around Alya’s shoulders, just a little more so than usual.

“I’m okay, I just wasn’t feeling well is all.” She said. And she was glad to see that Alya looked alright as well. She knew that the break up must have been tough for her as well. Although at least she had Nino to talk to. After the akuma attack, Marinette had sat in her room for a long time. Her parents asked her what was wrong, but all Marinette could say was that she felt sick. Alya had messaged her why she was out, but she didn’t respond, because she didn’t know what to say. After day three, she was getting messages from people outside of her class, too, like Luka, Kagami and Mark (Is that the art kid’s name?)

She took a week off from school, Monday to Friday. She knew that was excessive, but after the first day, it just got harder the second, and so on. Soon enough the week had passed by, and the only reasons she had gotten out of her room was to eat and fight crime. She promised herself that she’d be here today though, and here she was. She also promised herself one more thing.

“Hey, Alya? Can we talk about something before class starts?” Alya looked at her, and then to her phone. They only had about two minutes.

“Yeah, but make it quick. It’s one of the few days you’ve been on time today, you wouldn’t want to be late!” In a rush of determination, Marinette took Alya’s hand and ran with her. Alya waved back to Nino, who gave her a thumbs up. She rolled her eyes and turned her head back around to face Marinette. 

Once they reached a more private corner of the school (right outside the bathrooms), they stopped to catch their breath. Marinette had her hands on her knees, and Alya was leaning against the wall. Alya opened her phone, catching the time.

“You’ve got about thirty seconds to talk till we gotta run the other way and get to class, girl, what’s up?” She looked at Marinette, who, still breathless, stood up straighter. Wow, it was hard to look at her. Feelings of guilt tied her tongue in knots, remembering what had happened just days ago. She had hurt her, and now she was going to ask her again in her human form? Was a second chance justified? Was she taking advantage of her situation? No, she already had. This time, she was just trying to do it the right way.

“Alya, I-” She started talking, but Alya cut her off. 

“Nope, time for class, girl! C’mon-” Marinette grabbed her wrist. Alya say the pleading look in her eyes and dropped the smile. She stopped and turned her whole body to face her. Marinette had her full attention, but this wasn’t the sort of attention she wanted.

“Are you okay?” The halls were emptying as everyone made their way to class. One of the teachers was about to walk up to them.

“You girl’s should head to class, you’re going to be late- Are you alright?” Marinette was crying? Alya put a hand on her shoulder and gave the teacher a nod.

“We’ll be in class soon, is it alright if we take a moment in the bathroom to clean up?” The teacher nodded.

“Of course. And the counseling center is always open if you need it, alright? Just get to class as soon as you can.”

“Marinette.” Alya had taken a firm hold on her arm, and was tugging her gently towards the bathroom. Mrinette let her lead her in there. No no no no this was not the way this was supposed to go. The situation felt like it was spiraling out of her hands.

There was one girl on her phone by the sinks, but seeing Marinette’s rosy, tear ridden cheeks, she awkwardly made her way out. The two were alone now, and the situation had really felt like a situation instead of something quick and easy.

“Marinette, are you okay? You’ve been out of school for so long, and you came back in looking the worst I’ve seen you in a while. I need you to talk to me.” Instead of seeing a gentle, warming person, Alya’s intent wasn’t quite coming across. It felt as though she was being interrogated instead, which only made her more uncomfortable.

Marinette back herself to the wall. She felt trapped. She regretted coming to school today. Why was she getting so worked up? This wasn’t like her. But making such a tough decision on the spot, being treated so harshly by Alya and Chat, being left with no one to talk to but Tikki, who’s first words were that it was a bad idea in the first place, and then this? She couldn’t handle this. She broke down crying again, back on the wall and dropping to the floor.

Alya was distraught and confused. In all the time she’d known Marinette, Marinette had never broke down. Sure, she’d had tougher days, and she could get really panicky, but she had never seen her like this. For a minute, Alya just sat beside her, nothing but them, the gross bathroom floor, and the weird bathroom acoustics echoing her crying.

After a few minutes, Marinette started calming down. Alya took the moment to get into more of a crouching position in front of her. She put her hands on Marinette’s shoulders, trying to be as gentle as possible.

“Marinette, what was it you wanted to talk about? I’m here for you.” Marinette’s chest swelled. In that moment she couldn’t help but remember everything her and Rena had been through together. She missed her, or them, really. And that’s what gave her the push she needed.

“I… I like you Alya!” Alya seemed to jerk back a bit, obviously confused.

“What?”

“I don’t know when it started, but I do! I… I still like Adrien, too, but I like you too. And I wanted to ask you if you’d be my friend- girl- gal pal friend girl- girlfriend, if Nino’s okay with that obviously! I- I don’t know how he feels about this I guess- but I- I do. ” Alya took everything in and let her talk. But there was a point where she started looping in circles, and she decided to cut in.

“Marinette… To be honest, if you had asked me a few months ago, I would have been thrilled. But I’m going through something right now, and I just need some time. I hope you can understand.” Her tears stopped. She was so confused. Alya liked her, right? No, she liked Ladybug. But she just said she would have been thrilled to hear this before, so of course she liked Marinette. But she said no. Of course she did, she needed more time than that. And Marinette should have known that. And seeing the pained look in her face when she said she needed time… She realized that Alya was still hurting.

She nodded and the two girls got up. Alya held her forearms, trying to look her in the eye.

“Are you going to be alright?” She asked. Marinette seemed very distraught, but managed to pull herself together.

“Yeah! I just, can you give me a minute? I’ll be there soon.”

“Yeah, sure. But no more playing hookie, alright?” Alya went in for a hug, and while Marinette returned the gesture, she didn’t want to. It felt awful and suffocating. Alya smiled and waved goodbye before leaving the bathroom, and Marinette waited a minute for her to leave. This wasn’t what she expected at all. She sat back on the floor, her head on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs. She didn’t expect any of this to happen. None of this was how it should have gone.

Tikki poked out of her bag. She wanted to say something to Marinette, but she didn’t feel as though she could. After what had happened with Rena’s revealed Identity, Tikki had told Marinette that it was a bad idea from the beginning. She didn’t mean it in a disrespectful way, but it had still really hurt Marinette. Since then, while Marinette still needed her around to transform, she wasn’t comfortable talking with her.

“You were right, Tikki.” Tikki was surprised to hear her addressed. When Marinette lifted her head, Tikki felt so torn to see how broken she looked. “Of course it was wrong.”

“Marinette, you didn’t realize-”

“I did, Tikki! I knew it was a bad idea to date her as Ladybug, I just didn’t care… I can’t do this-” She cried into her hands, and Tikki flew up closer to her face. Getting up and running out of the bathroom, Marinette made her way to exit the building. But running to the exit, she realized that there was a boy already standing there.

“Luka?” She wiped the tears from her cheeks, looking as cheerful as she could for him. She attempted to change the influctions in her voice, as well, but it was too hard. “What are you doing here?”

“I came here to see you.” he said. Her heart pounded. 

“How did you know I came today? I didn’t see you this morning.”

“A classmate said a girl in pigtails was crying in the bathroom. It was just my hunch, but...” She really didn’t want to go back to class now.

“Are you alright?” Marinette Nodded vigorously, back straightened and overall posture looking very forced. She took a few steps back in the hope of escaping the awkward moment- she’d retreat from the bathroom and come back later.

“Yeah! Of course, just peachy! I just have to go get to my class now-” Luka smirked, adjusting the guitar on his back.

“We can skip classes together if you want some company.”

“Skipping class! What- what makes you think I’d do something like that? Haha!... Ha. Yeah, you’re right.” Marinette slumped down, and she walked defeated to his side. She leaned on the wall next to him facing the wide open space.

“I’ve already missed so much class, though, and my parents…” Her parents had been so patient with her. But what would they think if she took yet another day? Surely the school would call them. They’d be so mad. When she was taken out of school with the whole incident with Lila, it was different. But Marinette choosing not to go? That was a different story. How long would it be before they started getting angry with her?

“They’ll have to understand. I’ve heard you’ve been out, but you need to put you first.”

“But I’ve already missed so much school! And I’m supposed to be the president of my class. I’m going to disappoint everyone-”

“I’ve known people who’ve had to take weeks, even months off, Marinette. You come before your responsibilities.” He put his guitar case on the ground and unzipped it, taking out his instrument and strumming the strings for a quick tune check. He took a pic out of his pocket and played a little tune. Soft but almost chaotic, it filled her with anxiety.

“I feel right now you have more of something like this in your heart. But we can fix that.” he reached out his hand, and Marinette took it hesitantly. He packed his guitar back up, and the two walked out of school.

Meanwhile, Alya kept eyeing the door. She had told the Miss. Bustier that Marinette would be right there, what was taking her so long?

The bell rang, and students started chatting, taking a few minutes before their second class of the day. Meanwhile, Miss Bustier walked up to Alya’s desk. 

“Can we talk?” Alya was really worried about what she was going to say. More than that, though, she was worried about her best friend. There hadn’t been an akuma attack in a while, too, what if… No, She couldn’t think like that. The two stepped out of the classroom together followed by Adrien and Nino’s concerned eyes. Once they were outside the classroom, Miss. Bustier tried to look as reassuring as possible.

“You aren’t in trouble, Alya. I just wanted to know if you had any idea why Marinette’s been out?” Alya hesitated to respond. She couldn’t out her friend, definitely, but should she say something? Marinette wasn’t okay, and while she wanted to respect her privacy, it felt like something bigger was going on.

“She hasn’t told me much about what’s going on either, honestly. But before class, she pulled me aside to talk and just broke down crying.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Not… really. We talked about some normal friend stuff, but she wouldn’t tell me why she was out.” Miss. Bustier bent down, placing a hand on her shoulder assuringly.

“Thank you for letting me know, Alya. I’ll see if I can’t figure this out. Will you be okay for class?” Alya nodded, and the two returned back to the classroom. Alya couldn’t help still but worry about her friend. She couldn’t believe Marinette had actually confessed to her. She should have felt thrilled, normally, but after what happened with Ladybug… She really did need some time. And from the state Marinette was in, it didn’t feel like she was in the right state of mind to be asking such a big question. They both needed more time. But it still felt awful knowing that on top of whatever she’s dealing with, Alya rejecting her probably added another stress.

Alya and Luka were at his house, or his boat per say, in his room. Marinette was still baffled by the previous conversation.

“Well yer home early! Playing hookie, are yee?” Marinette was panicking internally, here seemed like the last place they should go. But Luka just explained with as cool a head as usual.

“We’re taking a mental health day. We’ll be chilling in the bedroom for a while if you need us.” She gave him a big pat on the back.

“Well sounds great ta me! You two have fun, and feel free to raid the fridge if ya get hungry!.”

Remembering that… Felt so odd. She was still unused to how his mom ran things. She was surprised she ended up with two of the most well behaved, wonderful kids she’d ever met.

So now, they were just sitting on his bed. She wondered if she should call her parents first, or if she should just wait until the school called them around lunch time. Which would be less hard to do?

Luka started strumming his Guitar again, working out some tune he’d been working on for a while. She wasn’t sure if it was for Kitty section, or for something more personal, but she was enjoying it. She leaned against his wall, bopping her head ever so slightly when he got into a bit of a grove. Besides that and kicking her feet a little, she was completely still.

Luka, cross legged on the bed, was in his own little world. It seemed as though he couldn’t care less he was missing classes today, and something about how chilled out he was helped calm her down as well. Laying against the wall, listening to him play, Marinette closed her eyes. She saw shapes of color on her eyelids, watching them grow and move and shift around as she thought less and less about whatever she was missing. Instead, it was replaced with a calm, and then the regular breathing, quiet stillness of sleep.

Luka noticed almost immediately she had fallen asleep. She stopped kicking her legs, and he could faintly hear her breathing. Not wanting to shift the bed and wake her up, he put his guitar down propped up by the bed frame, and leaned back against the wall himself. He put his hand on hers. It wasn’t meant in a romantic way, but just as something comfy. He closed his own eyes, letting himself drift to sleep beside her.


	13. Chapter 13

Luka was holding Marinette’s hand as they walked to her house together. His mom had already called her parents and explained the situation for her, and while Miss. Coufaine had said everything was under control, she couldn’t imagine her parents being very happy with her right now.

“What if they get mad at me? Or worse, what if they get mad at you?” She expressed her concerns, but he wasn’t concerned. He squeezed her hand firmly.

“I’ll be fine. And if they’re mad at you, you can call and talk to me, okay? I’ll be there for you.” She tightened her grip, too, swinging their arms together slightly. While she had been sleeping a lot, none of it had particularly felt restful. Quite the opposite, actually. She had been feeling sluggish and unmotivated for days. But that nap they had taken had been one of the most restful she’d had. It was… Nice.

“Okay, thank you.” Marinette could finally see her balcony. She stopped walking, putting a hand on her chest and taking one long, controlled breath. She started walking again, their hands locked together, and pushed open the door to the bakery. The little bell rang, calling her father up to the front to greet her.

“Welcome, what can I- Marinette!” He walked around the counter, giving her an incredibly big hug. Her feet weren’t even touching the ground anymore, and Luka had to let go of her hand. Once he put her down, she looked at Luka with a bit of an apologetic crinkle to her eyebrows. He just smiled at her father.

“Your her friend Luka, right?” Marinette’s mom walked in just a bit later, coming around to give Marinette a quick hug while she spoke. “Thank you for taking care of Marinette.” He shook his head.

“I may have asked her to take a break, but she definitely doesn’t need me taking care of her. Marinette’s a strong girl.” She blushed profusely, and her father eyed the two of them. Back of fowarth they darted, until the cogs in his head began to turn.

“Ooooh, I get it! You must be her boyfriend! Please, you have to stay for dinner.” Her dad lifted him off the ground in a big bear hug, to which he realized were much stronger than they looked. After being set back down and able to breath, Marinette took a step ahead, crossing her arms.

“Dad, leave him alone! We aren’t dating-” He picked her up and put her to the side, turning back to Luka,

“Oh come on, I see how he looks at you, you two are just meant to be together! Tell me, what do you think of my daughter? Isn’t she just gorgeous?” He put his hands on the boy’s shoulders, physically turning him to look at her. Marinette looked away, drawing her body inward in embarrassment, but Luka didn’t seem to mind.

“Of course she is” Her face flushed entirely red as her dad’s face lit up in approval. Miss. Chang looked simultaneously amused by and disappointed in her husband.

“Now Tom, we’ve talked about this-”

“This is different than last time! This boy- Luka, was it? - Is a gentleman!”

“Let’s give them some time alone, dear.” She gently grabbed his arm and guided him behind the counter. Meanwhile, Marinette took Luka to the stairwell in the hopes of being a bit more out of sight.

“You’re dad’s funny.” He said, chuckling. Marinette chuckled slightly, more awkward than amused. She was relieved that he wasn’t weirded out. She took his hands in hers, running her thumbs along the backs of his wrists.

“Thank you for walking me home, and for being there for me today. I’m sorry that I fell asleep on your bed like that.” Luka shook his head.

“You looked like you needed it.”

“Haha, yeah…” She took a glance to the side, checking to see that her parents (dad) were out of view. She pulled him down to kiss his cheek, but in her rush to do it quickly, she more or less just shoved her whole face into his cheek. Flustered, she buried her head in her hands.

“Sorry! That was supposed to be cute.” He gently took hold of her arms. She let him move them from her face to find that he had bent down a little.

“It was cute. But you can try again if you want.” He turned his cheek towards her, eyes closed. Now it felt more awkward. She wrapped one arm around his closer arm, rested her other on his back, and softly kissed his cheek. Something about doing it a second time made it feel more deliberate, and almost more intimate than just a friendly gesture.

He stood up, a slightly wider grin on his face than before. “I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah…” She sighed, happily rocking back on her heels. Marinette waved as he walked towards the door of the bakery. But Mr. Dupan was ready to strike, and he managed to walk around him before he reached the front door. There was no way for Luka to get around him, the boy was trapped!

“How would you like to stay for dinner tonight?” He asked him. Luka looked around to Marinette, who had legitimately facepalmed in the frustration and embarrassment. Meanwhile Mrs. Chang seemed to be heading around the counter to catch her husband. Luka, standing confidently with his arms by his sides, looked at her father.

“I’d be glad to, if that’s alright with you and Mrs. Chang.” Mr. Dupain turned the boy around and hurriedly pushed him over back to where Marinette was standing.

“Wonderful! Now you two go wait upstairs, I’ll be sure to whip something right up for you.” Marinette took Luka’s arm, and they walked up the stairs. She wanted to protest, but it seemed like Luka wanted to stay.

“I’m so sorry, Luka. My dad can be a little overwhelming.” The two stopped part way up the stairway. Luka was below her, on foot a step higher than the other.

“Really, it’s no problem.” They stood in silence for a bit. Marinette turned around briefly to continue walking up the stairs when she heard her mom’s voice.

“Tom, aren’t we going to talk with her about this? We can’t keep letting her miss her classes.” Marinette gripped the railing. Luka tried to get her attention, but she put a finger to her lip, signaling to be quiet.

“I know, sweetheart. But you’ve seen how she’s been this week. This is the most happy she’s looked this whole time, can’t we let it go for tonight?”

“But there’s no explanation, Tom! We’ve given her a week. We either need her to go to school, or she needs to tell us what’s wrong.” 

Marinette felt a hand on her shoulder. It pushed her gently, and she understood what he wanted. She tip toed up the stairs and turned around to talk to Luka. He was already one step ahead, though, and started talking before she could get to it.

“Eavesdropping on your parent’s conversation won’t help you feel any better.” Marinette looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. She knew that, of course. But it was hard not to listen.

She turned around without a word. Her feet pitter pattered up the stairs as she hurried to the comfort of her room. Her hands clutched the railings as she pulled herself ahead, wishing suddenly that she could outrun Luka and just be alone for a moment. But once she was up all of the stairs, which was a long trek, he was right behind her.

She opened up her room, and headed inside. She wasn’t sure how to hold herself with Luka here, so she stood in the center of the room. She took a moment to reorganize her thoughts before turning around with a welcoming smile.

“So, this is my room! I just realized you’ve never been here before.” He had been standing in the doorway. Taking that as his permission to enter, he stepped in and looked around.

“Wow Marinette, you’re room is as well designed as all your clothes.” She brought her hand to her cheek, covering her face just a bit.

“Oh, it’s nothing! I didn’t really do much.” He looked around a bit before his eyes noticed the photos of Adrien around her computer. Her eyes followed his to find the horror that was her love of that boy hanging in plain site. She practically fell over her own feet getting over and failing to block the view.

“Don’t mind me! I’m just- Uh- Taking care of some things!” She started tearing down pictures. Luka grabbed one of her hands, taking the picture out and pinning it back up on the wall.

“It’s alright, really. I know you’re in love with Adrien.” While Luka smiled, she could tell he sounded sad. She’d been on many double dates with him, but they were never particularly romantic for her. Marinette definitely felt something for him, sure. But they weren’t the same as his. He had confessed his love to her, called her the music that had been playing in his head since the day they first met, as sincere as a musical note and as sweet as a melody. She… kissed his cheek once? Yeah, sounds right.

She put the pictures on her desk. Walking across the room, she sat on her bed- not the one that was lofted, but the daybed type bed, and sat down. Luka sat down next to her, taking out his Guitar. It didn’t feel lie he could go anywhere without it.

“If you want, we could go on the roof! I’ve got a balcony there, it might make for a nice spot to play.” Luka smiled and nodded.

“Sounds like a great idea, Marinette.” Slinging the guitar around his back, he followed her to the ladder. They climbed up it and opened the hatch to get to the balcony area. When he poked his head out, he seemed amazed. Marinette chuckled, holding a hand out for him to grab. She helped him up, and he looked around.

“You’re room’s awesome!” He said. Pulling his guitar around, he leaned against the wall. He strummed the strings, tuning his instrument quickly before he started to play a melody that was becoming familiar. He was getting closer to perfecting it, certainly, but Luka was still tweaking things. He closed his eyes and held his head up to the sky, an unconscious gesture Marinette knew was just him focusing. But if she didn’t know better, she’d think he was trying to look cool.

Marinette leaned with her arms against the railing, facing away from him. The wind swept her pigtails to the side, and standing up little baby hairs she had brushed down. The end of her jacket whipped around in the wind, and she took a moment to button it up. Then, stepping back to look at Luka, she caught his eye. He had been watching her.

“You’re beautiful.” She attempted to brush down her hair with her hands, but it proved unsuccessful as more wind came to make it awry.

“Thank you.” Marinette walked towards him, and he put his guitar down against the wall. She took his hand in hers, and went on her toes to kiss his cheek. “... For helping me this week.”

“I have a feeling you don’t want me to stay for dinner.”

“Sorry, is that okay?” He brought up his hand and cupped her cheek.

“Of course. You want to talk to your family, right?” He put her hand on his.

“Yeah. Well, not really. I can’t really say exactly what’s going on, but I at least want them to know I’ll be going back to school.”

“I’ll head home. But I’ll have my phone off silent if you need to talk to someone.”

“Alright. Do you want me to walk you down?”

“You can stay up here… How would you feel if I picked you up before school tomorrow?”

“That sounds great, Luka.” She wrapped his fingers around his hand and lowered it off of her cheek. He shifted his hand and locked his fingers in the spaces between hers. She gripped back, and mustering up a whim of courage she didn’t know she had, she kissed him.

But he didn’t kiss back. He stepped to his right, since the wall was behind him.

“This isn’t what you have in your heart right now, Marinette. I’m happy, but I think this needs to wait until you’re feeling better.” She was shocked. Tears formed in her eyes, and she stepped back herself. Her hand hovered in front of her, as if defensive. She turned to the balcony and walked back up to it, leaning forward.

She heard the hatch open and close as Luka saw his way out. Almost as soon as she was gone, tears fell down her cheeks, she crouched on the ground with her hands still clutching the railing. She wouldn’t have been so bothered normally. Everything she was doing felt so out of character for her, she wondered what was happening to her.

She felt like Luka would understand. She knew that Luka liked her, and she missed having that sense of closeness with someone. She missed having intimate moments with someone. She missed the closeness, how a kiss could feel so calming. But she also felt pity for him. That she was making him feel the same way she was feeling now, and felt like maybe she should give him a chance. But maybe he was right- She wanted those things so bad that she kissed him out of feelings of loss and pity instead of love. That wasn’t fair to him, was it?

While she was crouched down and sitting on her ankles, her crying had slowed down. She heard the click of the hatch opening, and knew who it was. She took her hands off the railing, wiping her eyes and standing up. When she turned around, her mother and father had come up to see her.

“I’m okay.” She said, before she could say anything. “I came back because something happened, but I’m going back tomorrow. I promise.” Her mom and dad shared a glance, and her dad held her mom at the hip. As Marinette walked to the entrance to her room, her dad went to move out of her way but her mom didn't budge.

“That’s what you said yesterday, Marinette. You need to tell us what’s wrong.” Tom cut in after his wife, trying to make the situation a bit lighter.

“Now now dear, it’s okay. She’s going to school tomorrow, and that’s all that matters now. Let’s just go have some dinner-”

“-If you think you need to see someone about this, like a counselor, tell us. But what you’ve been doing this week can’t continue happening. I know you understand-.”

“-You’re putting more pressure on her-”

“Mom, Dad.” She got her dad’s attention now, as well as for her mom to stop talking. She took a breath before continuing. “I… It’s hard to explain what’s been going on. I want to tell you, but…” She looked in her purse, where Tikki had been hiding. It was too woven in with her secret identity to really tell them the truth.

“... I’ve been dating this girl, but we broke up. I missed her and asked if she wanted to get back together, but now I’ve realized how stupid that was. I hurt her really bad.” She hugged her arms, hung her head and tried desperately not to cry as her throat closed up. Her parents approached her with open arms, each wrapping their arms around her in a collective hug. No one said anything for a little bit.

They all parted after the silence became awkward. 

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Marinette.” Her dad said. “but there are plenty of other girls- and guys- out there. You’ll find your prince- ah, or princess!- someday.”

“Some breakups aren’t clean, especially not your first one. Maybe they’re hurt, but you’re hurt too, right?” Her mom added. Marinette hesitated. She was hesitant to say it. “But you’ll move on, and so will she. Maybe you two will come back together with time, and maybe not. But you need to take care of yourself right now.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, this is such a stupid thing to get upset over-”

“- Marinette, don’t ever apologize for the way you feel.” Her dad kneeled down, putting a hand on her head and ruffling her hair. “Your feelings are important. If you felt that this person was special enough to be dating, than you must have been really invested in them. It’d be weird if you weren’t upset!” She wiped her eyes one more time, wrapping her arms around her dad. He wrapped his arms around her as well. Mrs Chang stayed aside. Her and Marinette were alike in many things, but in love and how carried away they could get, Tom and their daughter were near identical.

“I’m going to go set the table and let you two talk for a bit.” She opened the hatch and started climbing down. Once it was closed, they pulled away from each other. Her father had adopted a more serious expression.

“I’m sorry we pressured you into talking about things you may not have been ready to talk with us about. It can be really scary, especially when… We’ve talked so much about you finding a nice boy. But I want to let you know that no matter who you decide to love or who you want to be, we’ll accept you.”

Marinette realized that this was new information to them. She had never even mentioned to them she’d been interested in girls, let alone thought about the need to come out. She had so many other secrets that keeping it to herself just felt natural. But she had just come out, and that realization made her feel almost uncomfortable.

But she knew that her parents would be accepting, just as her dad said. While her parents never told her, she had figured out quickly after meeting him that her grandfather wasn’t accepting of him marrying a Chinese woman. At some point, he had to come out and tell his dad he loved her. Accept for him, it didn’t turn out so well. She wondered how long they were dating before he had mustered the courage to tell him.

It wasn’t really the same thing. Honestly, Marinette was worried more about them telling her friends and having to try to find an explanation than her having actually come out. But she appreciated how seriously he was taking this.

“Thanks, dad… Hey, do you want to play some Ultimate Mecha Strike III after dinner?” He laughed, taking a thumb and pointing to his chest.

“Sure thing, but I’m definitely going to win this time!”


	14. Chapter 14

The next day, Marinette stood in front of the school. She sighed, taking out her phone and opening her camera. She checked out her hair in the selfie mode like a mirror, wanting to make sure everything looked fine. She didn’t have the energy to shower, and she was worried that it looked greasy. But it was good enough.

“You’re okay.” Luka said. He had his thumb under his guitar strap, and his other hand cooly in his pocket. The way he stood so casually helped Marinette to feel a little more normal. He had picked her up that morning, as promised, and they walked together in silence. She hadn’t apologized for yesterday, but she got the feeling that Luka didn’t need her to. 

When they walked into school, they caught sight of Adrien, Alya and Nino together. Adrien saw them first and waved, while Nino and Alya turned to see her. Marinette saw them share a worried glance before turning back to Adrien. Nino pointed in the direction of the stairwell, and Adrien was quick to follow. Alya seemed to say goodbye before turning to Marinette.

Luka gave her a pat on the back, which startled Marinette a bit.

“Will you be okay if I head to class?” He asked her.

“Yeah… Thank you.” There was a moment of stillness before Luka took the first steps, walking away. Marinette turned her head to her friend, who was standing halfway across the room, just… staring. Marinette braced herself, turned her feet and strode over with a confident air she didn’t really feel.

“Hey Alya! Where are Nino and Adrien? I thought I saw them with you.” She said cooly. Alya seemed taken aback for a moment, but after collecting herself, she grinned.

“They’re in the classroom, wanna head over?” Marinette agreed, and the day began as usual. They went to class, and Marinette stood by her seat. She hardly had a chance to sit, seeing as her classmates had crowded her with questions.

“Marinette, you’re back!” Rose said, excited.

“It must have been quite the severe cold you caught to have kept you out that long.” Max added, having got out of his seat and walked across the classroom with Kim.

“Yeah, or playing hookie. Must’ve been nice to get out of school for so long, huh?” Kim added. Alix jabbed him in the side with her elbow.

“Cut it out!” Alix said to him. He held his side gingerly, shooting her a mean glare. Normally her absences weren’t a big deal, but she hadn’t really told anyone why she was out. And seeing her at school yesterday must have made things even weirder.

She waved off a lot of comments, gave brief answers that basically amounted to “I was sick”, and started taking out her books for their first class. She wouldn’t be able to go over the homework with the class, but she’d have to make it all up. Pushing her feet back under her chair, she tapped her heels together anxiously.

When the teacher walked in, she had felt a sense of relief. More than anything, she just wanted class to start. But after setting her papers down on the desk, the teacher started walking up to Marinette.

“Could you stay a few minutes after class? I have your make up work to give you.” Marinette had been scared for a moment, but makeup work was fine.

“Yes, Miss Bustier.” She answered. She got a mechanical pencil out of her bag and clicked it a few times before flipping a few extra pages ahead in her notes. She wanted to leave room so that everything could be in order later. She wrote the date and a header based on what was being written on the board, and began to take notes.

Class went by as usual. Marinette was pretty lost, but she took the best notes she could in hopes that it would make more sense later. She didn’t notice Adrien staring at her back, watching her click her pencil and press her pencil against the desk, retracting the lead, over and over. She didn’t notice Alya’s passing glances towards her, either.

When class ended, some people left and some stayed. It was only a brief break, but they still had a few minutes to get up and walk around while preparing for their next class. Marinette walked down to the desk. She teacher smiled warmly at her.

“Here are the worksheets you missed, I marked the pages in the textbook that correspond with each page They’re for all the classes you have with me, but don’t spend time in class filling them out. I trust you can ask a classmate to copy the notes?” Marinette agreed, taking the big stack of papers in hand.

“Also-” She added “-You’ll need to provide me with a doctor’s note explaining your reason of absence. If you want to give that to me, I can pass it along.”

“I, uh… Don’t have one.”

“I’ll also accept a note from your parents, too. If it’s something you feel you need to talk about, I can give you a note to the counseling center-” She was speaking just a bit too loudly for Marinette’s comfort. She jumped in quickly.

“No, I’m fine now! I’ll have a note by tomorrow.” Marinette went to sit down again with her papers, absconding from the situation. 

She began flipping through them. English, math, history, and this wasn’t even including her science course. She was beginning to stress, and decided it was best to shove these into a notebook and forget about for now.

The day continued as normal, up until around lunch time. Marinete was hoping that everyone could eat together. But Alya gave Nino a look, and Marinette caught on quickly. Nino and Adrien left, while Alya seemed to have her cornered.

“Do you wanna go eat lunch outside?” She asked. No, she thought to herself. But what reason did she have to say no?

“Sure.” She grabbed her bag and slung it around her shoulder. She followed Alya down the stairs and outside. They walked within the area of the school, sitting down underneath a tree.

They had some conversation first, but it felt weird and awkward. Eventually, Alya sighed and gave in.

“I should probably just get to the point. I felt like I didn’t get to say everything I wanted to say yesterday. Marinette, I’m very happy that you like me. It’s not like I don’t like you, I do. But I’m getting over something right now, and I just want to focus on my life and my relationship with Nino. But maybe in the future I’ll be a bit more ready. I don’t want to keep your hopes up, but I just need time.”

Marinette started to cry. Alya seemed concerned, but Marinette was smiling.

“I understand. Thank you.” Alya went in for a hug, and the two were back to being friends. It was going to hurt, but Marinette was alright with it. Their lunches sat half eaten as they began laughing and talking again, catching each other up and having a good time.


	15. Epilogue

Half a year had passed since our last chapter. Our two best friends had resumed being friends, and Marinette began attending school regularly again. 

Chat Noir had visited her at a weirdly convenient time to help her catch up on the work she missed, and he continued to pay her frequent study visits. He even began popping in to just say hi and hang out. Marinette’s dad wasn’t all too happy to find out he was still hanging around. But he warmed up to the boy, offering to let him join them for a non-romantic dinner..

Adrien and Kagami had officially started dating, and the school went wild with the news. Adrien had tried to keep it private, but being a famous model meant that soon, it was everywhere. His father approved, their friends were supportive, and everything was going well. Adrien and Kagami seemed happier than ever… Mostly.

But what happened between Marinette and Alya?

“Hey, Mari!” Alya called. Her and Nino were waiting in the park for her. She ran up to them, bending over herself and putting her hands on her knees. Her habit of being late never got better (especially since she had just gotten back from patrol). Nino stood up off the bench, hands in his pockets.

“Slept in?” He asked her.

“Maybe a little.” Marinette answered sheepishly. She caught her breath and stood up straight, looking at Alya.

“Ready to go?” She asked. Marinette leaned in to kiss her girlfriend’s cheek. 

“Ready.” And after that, she went on her tip-toes to kiss Nino’s cheek as well. She linked her arms together with their’s and strolled along for their movie date. Alya had asked Marinette out two months after the week she was out from school, and about a month later, Nino and Marinette started dating as well.

It wasn’t at all what Marinette had expected to happen. She still had feelings for Adrien, and was still wondering what would happen with her and Luka. But for now, she was happy with what she had. A wonderful, spunky girlfriend and a totally rad boyfriend that made her feel loved.


End file.
